Ireland: Fastnet Says Mizzen Basin May Be Most Substantial Celtic Sea Fields

Fastnet Oil and Gas has said that the Mizzen Basin may be one of the greatest unexplored resources in the Celtic Sea, following an independent assessment of its prospective resources.

Technical examination of the two licence areas held by Fastnet, undertaken by SLR Consulting, point to significant reserves in two basins. The results released today for the Mizzen and Molly Malone Basins in the Celtic Sea put prospective resources at approximately 2.4 billion boe (oil case) or 957 MMboe (gas case) and approximately 12.5 billion bbl (oil case) or 3.6 billion boe (gas case) respectively.

The company says it is now reevaluating sesimic surveying already carried out at the Mizzen Basin in 1984 with seismic reprocessing of 180 kilometres of existing 2D seismic data due to take place. On the Molly Malone Basin, the company will also reprocess existing seismic data, with 550 kilometres of 2D seismic data to be reevaluated.

The company said today that it was pleased to receive the estimates, which confirmed its own estimates on the two basins. If successful, the finds could be a massive success for the company, it said.

"The Barryroe discovery in the Celtic Sea, close to our acreage, has proven large scale commercial oil finds exist in the Celtic Sea and through the Mizzen Basin and Molly Malone Basin, we are confident that substantial reservoir structures exist," CEO of Fastnet Dr. Steve Staley said. "Some members of the Fastnet team, including Paul Griffiths, carried out exploratory work on the Mizzen Basin in the early 1990's and they believe it is one of the greatest unexplored structures in the Celtic Sea.

"The Molly Malone Basin has had little to no exploration to date, as for decades it sat adjacent to the international median boundary line between the UK and Ireland, which has only recently been clarified; giving Fastnet a huge opportunity."