MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands oil exploration to resume shortly.

According to the Directors of the oil company Desire Petroleum there are at least One Billion barrels of oil waiting to be exploited in an area north of the Falkland Islands.

Dr Colin Phipps, a founder member of the company, told Falklands share-holders that this would amount to at least 25-30 years of oil reserves and once exploited could, through royalties and corporation tax, bring in as much as $US 500,000 a day to the Falkland Islands Government and the 2,500 inhabitants, which amounts to a staggering $182 millions a year.

Desire Petroleum have announced plans to drill three exploration wells ranging from distances of 118 to 125 miles off-shore. The Company are actively looking for an oil drilling rig which can be towed to the Islands to undertake the work. 'We hope to begin drilling either at the very end of 2005 or very early in 2006', insisted Dr Phipps, who is a former Member of the British Parliament.

Desire Petroleum recently announced that it had recruited Peak Well management to carry out the well design and drilling project management. Oil drilling rigs currently operating in West Africa or Brazil are said to be of the type and price which would be well within the Company's budget.

A recent flotation on the stock market, aimed at raising £25 millions, was heavily over-subscribed and almost £35 millions was available, with many disappointed prospective investors being turned away. Most of the several hundred share-holders in the Falklands only received a fraction of the shares which they bid for.

New 3D seismic data which the Company has obtained, shows structural lines consistent with heavy 'hydrocarbon kitchens' which are known to contain massive oil reserves, said Ian Duncan, the newly appointed Chief Executive of Desire Petroleum.

Once the rig is towed into position, it is anticipated that approximately 100 men will be employed in the drilling process. A further 15 men will be stationed in Stanley.

In 1998 traces of oil and gas were found in several exploration wells which were drilled on behalf of large oil companies such as Shell, Amerada Hess & IPC. However with the price of oil then at a rock-bottom $US 10 a barrel, the exploration programme was curtailed. Now with oil prices having rocketed to around $US 50 a barrel, there is renewed optimism in the Islands that an 'oil boom' might be not too far away.