MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Interest in Falklands oil exploration “on the increase” at AAPG

Phyll Rendell, Rockhopper put the Falklands on the world oil map

INTEREST in the Falkland Islands, “is on the increase,” said Director of Mineral Resources Phyllis Rendell who recently attended the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) in Houston.

Mrs Rendell said this is, “…thanks particularly to Rockhopper Exploration, their announcement that they have made an oil discovery and are now appraising it by drilling a series of wells to see if it has commercial potential or not.”

She said there was also a great deal of interest in the southern basin, “…now that Borders & Southern Petroleum have secured a rig to drill wells in their acreage later this year and FOGL has also announced that it will drill a well using the same rig.”

The Falkland Islands Government attends AAPG in order to promote the Falkland Islands, “…as a good place to explore for oil and gas and to inform companies as to where the Islands are with exploration.”

She said it was an opportunity to explain the success of Desire Petroleum’s gas discovery and Rockhopper Exploration’s oil discovery. Mrs. Rendell also met with three of the Falkland Islands Government’s licence operators while in Houston.
 

Mrs Rendell confirmed that the trip was a success, adding “…it is always a busy event… Around 8,000 oil industry related people attended. A wide number of companies were briefed on activities in the Falkland Islands…”

Important issues at the conference included post Gulf of Mexico disaster, “…and lessons learnt by the industry to ensure it never happens again. Also there was a lot of interest in shale gas production now that the price of energy is so high,” said Mrs. Rendell.

Speaking generally about Falklands oil exploration she said, “Things are progressing very well indeed. We did not expect to have both a gas and oil discovery declared in the first two wells drilled last year. As a result the rig has extended its stay and will continue drilling for several months yet.

“Drilling activity is very good indeed for the local economy and it has helped the Falklands through the global recession very well. We are now hopeful that this early success will result in a commercial discovery in either basin, where development planning over five or so years, will give us some security about our economic future but we are not there yet.”

By Lisa Watson – SeAledPR - Stanley