Orcadian Energy, the low-emissions North Sea focused oil and gas development company, today announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 31 December 2022.

Activity Focus:

• To improve the technical and commercial definition of the Pilot development project
• To seek partners and finance for the Pilot development project
• To maximise the value in our satellite discoveries and prospects
• To prepare applications for new opportunities in the 33rd Round, now submitted

Highlights:

• Secured a one-year extension to the P2244 licence, which includes the Pilot project
• Completed a revision of the technical resources on Pilot which resulted in a 18.4% upgrade to the P50 case (management estimates)
• Entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with SLB (formerly Schlumberger) for the exclusive provision of drilling and completion services and equipment for the Pilot project
• Progressed the reprocessing of the Catcher North seismic survey with TGS and started quantitative interpretation work
• Prepared 33rd Round applications (submitted 12 January 2023) which included a 114 bcf gas discovery and a 153 bcf near drill-ready prospect.
• Identified two new low-risk exploration prospects with P50 prospective resources of 120 MMbbl and 70 MMbbl (management estimates, after the reporting period)
• Since the end of the period under review, initial agreement reached with Rapid for the disposal of the Crinan and Dandy discoveries; and
• Raised £500k before expenses on February 1 2023

Steve Brown, Orcadian’s CEO, commented:
“The second half of 2022 was dominated by political and fiscal turmoil. We all hope for calmer waters in 2023. Our absolute focus is to find a farm-in partner or a new owner for Pilot and our intention is to elicit offers during 2Q and 3Q of 2023 so that a new operator can take the project forward; a project which will help deliver a secure transition for the UKCS.

“We are in active discussions with potential new investors as Orcadian needs additional working capital to secure the best deal for shareholders on Pilot.

“Those discussions have been buoyed by the identification of two new prospects on our licences which have been illuminated by the quantitative interpretation work done for us by TGS. These prospects are likely to contain a lighter oil than seen on Pilot and have a very high chance of success as well as a relatively low cost to drill. We will update shareholders on these discussions as soon as possible.”

KeyFacts Energy: Orcadian Energy UK country profile