Orcadian Energy plc has completed the 81.24% farm-out of central North Sea licence P2244, containing the Pilot oil field, to Malaysian operator Ping Petroleum UK plc.
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Discovered in 1989, appraisal of Pilot showed “excellent quality reservoir and contains 263MMbbl of a viscous oil”.
Orcadian said that Ping, focused on shallow water offshore production and development opportunities, held a significant acreage east of the medium viscosity oils of Pilot.
“The near-term focus of the Ping team will be to select a suitable FPSO and prepare a FDP for submission to the North Sea Transition Authority.
“Orcadian will support the Ping team especially on the sub-surface aspects of a draft FDP which has already been reviewed by NSTA.”
Shell has approved the farm-out to Ping in return for Orcadian chief executive and major shareholder Stephen Brown’s personal guarantee for the £1 million loan.
Mr Brown added that heavy, viscous oils made up a high proportion of the UK’s undeveloped discovered resources.
“Heavy oils can supply the lubricants, asphalt, and anode grade petroleum coke markets which will continue to grow even as gasoline and diesel demand falls.
“Application of well proven polymer flooding technology early in a viscous oil development can significantly reduce emissions associated with the production process.
“Ping has been at the forefront of planning field developments that take advantage of renewable power, and we are confident that Ping can put together a very low emissions development scheme for Pilot.
“They are commercially and technically innovative and have built a team here in the UK which is not just a replication of a big company structure, but one which is capable of delivering a really innovative and cost-focused project for us all.”