Through its wholly owned subsidiary Exola DAC, the Company currently holds an 80% working interest in, and is operator of, SEL 1/11 which contains the Barryroe oil and gas accumulation.

SEL 1/11 is located in the North Celtic Sea Basin, c. 50 km off the south coast of Ireland, being is situated in c. 100 m water depth. The licence is adjacent to the Kinsale Head Gas Field, which is currently going through the decommissioning process as the gas reserves have now been depleted.

History

In the past, under different operators, five wells were successfully drilled on Barryroe. All of these wells successfully logged hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs with three successfully flowing oil to surface. In 2011, having acquired new 3D seismic data, the Company drilled the sixth well on this really extensive field. In March 2012, the Barryroe partners announced the flow rates from this well, results which far exceeded pre-drill expectations with oil rates in excess of 3,500 BOPD from a 7 m vertical section of reservoir.

Post-well analysis, in conjunction with the new 3D seismic data set, led to a substantial upgrade in the field size to over 1 billion barrels STOIIP (2C). Subsequent work on multiple development concepts, together with detailed engineering studies on recovery factors, led to estimated 2C recoverable resources of over 300 million barrels of oil from the two main tested reservoir intervals.

In April 2013, a Competent Persons Report was issued by Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc. confirming the Company’s previously published figures on the main basal sandstone reservoir. In conjunction with a previous audit carried out by RPS Energy on the overlying secondary Middle Wealden reservoir, the total upgraded resource base at Barryroe is gross 346 MMBOE REC. 

Further incremental resource potential has also been identified in logged hydrocarbon bearing intervals within stacked Lower Wealden and Purbeckian sandstones, which the Company estimates contain total associated P90, P50 & P10 in place oil resources of 456 MMBO, 778 MMBO and 1,165 MMBO, respectively.

In 2016, the Company updated on the resource potential of the Upper C-Sand interval. The latest estimated GIIP within SEL 1/11 & OPL1 option area is now estimated at c. 400 BSCF. During 2017, the Barryroe partners were granted a 2-year extension to the current phase of the Barryroe licence (SEL 1/11) to July 2019. In April 2021, prior to the expiry of the exploration licence in July that year, the Barryroe partners applied for a Lease Undertaking in order to drill an appraisal well, a necessary precursor to a field development. Government consent to that application is still awaited.

Strategy

Following the completion of four new technical studies in early 2022, including a Competent Persons Report (CPR) prepared by RPS Energy Consultants Limited, the Board of Barryroe Offshore Energy is confident that there is an attractive economic and technical case for moving forward with plans to optimise the value of the Barryroe Field.

Barryroe Offshore Energy supports Government and EU policy in relation to tackling the challenges of climate change. Ireland’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 cannot be achieved without transition planning. Successful development of the Barryroe Field, in conjunction with industry and government, can contribute significantly to energy transition en route to a carbon neutral economy in Ireland.