MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ oil company submits green impact report

As was anticipated Desire Petroleum has submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to the Falkland Islands government it was reported in London.

RPS Energy prepared the EIA, which covers offshore licenses PL 006, 007, and 034 in the North Falkland basin. The submission was behind schedule, due to a delay in receiving the results of the analysis of benthic samples acquired last year.

PL034 is a recently awarded exploration license, following a farm-out agreement with Arcadia Petroleum. Desire has identified a new gas play in the area, which extends into this license.

Under the terms of farm-out accord, Arcadia agreed to drill and test the Alpha gas prospect, located on PL034 and Desire's existing licenses in Tranches I and L. Alpha is a large structural closure, with un-risked, mid-estimate potential recoverable reserves of 7 trillion cubic feet.

Arcadia also agreed to drill and fund 85% of the costs of a well on the Ann oil prospect in a sub-area of Tranche C, which Desire estimates has un-risked potential reserves of 202 million barrels of oil.

The company is one of the more proactive in the Falklands sector, with plans and cash for a four-well program on its various prospects. Recently, however, it has been thwarted by rig availability constraints, heightened by the remoteness of the island's location in the southern Atlantic.