Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad (Hibiscus Petroleum) has announced that its jointly-controlled entity, Lime Petroleum Norway AS (Lime Norway) will be participating in the drilling of the Haribo prospect in PL616, located some 10 kilometres from the Valhall platform in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea. The water depth is 70 metres.
The semi-submersible drilling rig Transocean Searcher was scheduled to be moved to the drilling location on 16 June 2015. The well is designated as 2/11-11 and drilling is expected to take 45 days to reach a depth of 3,350 metres. The Haribo prospect has reworked chalk on the west flank of the Valhall-Hod ridge as reservoir target. The exploration potential is estimated by the operator at some 150 million barrels of oil (mmboe) with the geological chance of success at 25%.
The license further contains two small oil/gas discoveries in the northern part. Broadband 3D seismic has been reprocessed to evaluate that part of the licence. The parties in the PL616 license comprise of Edison Norge AS1 (operator) with 25%, Noreco Norway AS2 with 20%, Concedo ASA3 having 20%, North Energy ASA4 holding 15%, Skagen44 AS (Skagen44) with 5% and Lime Norway holding the remaining 15% (pending regulatory approval following the execution of an agreement with Skagen44 to acquire 10% interest in April 2015).
Lime Norway is also currently participating in the drilling of the Zumba prospect in PL591, located in the Norwegian Sea. The operator, Tullow Oil Norge AS5 (Tullow Oil), is presently overseeing the drilling works, which was expected to take 50 days from the commencement date of 21 May 2015, and which may be extended by another 8 days in the event of a discovery that requires extended sampling and logging.
Lime Norway was accorded pre-qualification status as a licensee in Norway in February 2013, which endorses Lime Norway as a qualified oil and gas player in Norway, allowing the company to directly assume participating interests in partner-operated licenses in Norway, in addition to facilitating its receipt of a cash tax refund of 78% of exploration costs annually.
