Borders & Southern Petroleum, the London based independent oil and gas exploration company with assets offshore the Falkland Islands, has secured the extension of its Production Licences PL018, PL019, PL020, including the Darwin Discovery Area.

The Licences were due to expire on the 31 December 2022. After applying for a two-year extension, the Company has received confirmation from the Falkland Islands Government that the revised expiry date will be 31 December 2024.

Falkland Island operations

Borders & Southern holds a 100% equity interest and operatorship in three Production Licences in the Falkland Islands covering an area of nearly 10,000 square kilometres. The licences are located approximately 150 km south-east of the Islands.

The South Falkland Basin contains a marine depositional sequence. This contrasts with the lacustrine sediments found in the North Falkland Basin. Good quality marine source rocks of Early Cretaceous age have been proven in the exploration wells. These source rocks appear to have a wide distribution. Similar Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous source rocks are recorded in DSDP wells located to the east of the Falkland Islands and in exploration wells located in the contiguous Malvinas and Magellanes Basins to the west. Early Cretaceous and Tertiary clastic reservoirs provide the main exploration targets. Good quality Early Cretaceous shallow marine sandstone reservoirs have been proven in exploration wells.

Whilst a large part of the basin is represented by a simple passive margin sequence containing mainly stratigraphic traps, Borders & Southern’s acreage is characterised by abundant structural traps. These are related to both early extensional faulting and later folding and thrusting.

KeyFacts Energy: Borders & Southern Falkland Islands country profile