Deep Kinsale could contain 2.3bn barrels of oil

An independent assessment of explorer Fastnet Oil and Gas’s Deep Kinsale target off the south coast indicates that it could contain 2.3 billion barrels of oil.

Fastnet said today that an independent assessment of the licence area by SLR Consulting established the presence of a significant potential “unrisked” resource in place of over 2 billion barrels.

The group said that SLR carried out the assessment in accordance with generally accepted international procedures.

In February, Fastnet agreed a deal with Petronas subsidiary Kinsale Energy to farm into the so-called "deep Kinsale prospect". It lies deep below the existing Kinsale gas field, which has by now given up all but 3 per cent of its reserves.

As part of its deal with Kinsale Energy, Fastnet carried out engineering and geological studies and a wide-ranging, three-dimensional seismic survey.

Fatnet said the independent assessment confirms that oil-bearing sands encountered in the Middle and Lower Wealden wells drilled by Marathon in the early 1970’s occur in the same geological structure that hosts the shallow producing gas sands in the Kinsale gas field.

The Deep Kinsale structure covers an area of up to 162 square km.

"Deep Kinsale is a large anticlinal structure, which has the potential to contain a significant oil accumulation directly beneath the producing Kinsale gas field and the two platforms, in the Celtic Sea," Fastnet founder shareholder John Craven said.

Earlier this month, the oil and gas company, which is focused on near term exploration acreage in Africa and the Celtic Sea, was awarded a new licensing option in the North Celtic Sea. The option covers blocks in the Mizzen Basin, known as East Mizzen, and the western end of the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore Ireland.