Lime Petroleum Norway is to acquire an additional 20% in production licenses (PL) 591, 591B and 591C in the Norwegian Sea from Tullow Oil, increasing its holding in each to 25%.
The licenses are operated by Tullow and an exploration well is due to be spudded in the Zumba prospect in PL591 early in Q3 2015.
The licenses are located in the Halten area in 300m water depth.
The Zumba prospect has Upper Jurassic Rogn formation sands as reservoir with gross unrisked exploration resources of 256 MMboe and a geological chance of success estimated at 27%, according to North Energy.
Måns Lidgren, CEO of Rex International Holding, which owns 65% in Lime Norway, said: “Lime Norway completed the acquisition of a 5% stake in PL591 and the neighboring PL591B from North Energy in October 2014 and was awarded PL 591C in the latest 2014 Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) round in January 2015. We are pleased to seize this opportunity to increase our stake in the licenses, given the promising potential we see in the Zumba prospect with Rex Virtual Drilling and the upcoming spud date of the exploration well.”
Following the transfer of the 20% to Lime Norway, Tullow’s stake in the licenses will be 60%, North Energy 15% and Lime Norway 25%.
Rex International and its jointly controlled entities, including Lime Petroleum and HIREX Petroleum, hold exclusive rights to the Rex Virtual Drilling technology.