Falklands : Bright Prospects for FOGL as Tim Bushell Returns to the Falklands
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 10.02.2006 (Article Archived on 24.02.2006)
Tim Bushell, formerly in the Falklands with LASMO, has returned as CEO of Falklands Oil and Gas plc.
BRIGHT PROSPECTS FOR FOGL AS TIM BUSHELL RETURNS TO THE FALKLANDS
By J. Brock (FINN)
Tim Bushell, 46, who in 1998 was Lasmo’s General Manager for the South Atlantic during the FOSA drilling campaign, has returned to the Falklands, this time as Chief Executive Officer of Falklands Oil and Gas. He’s here to re-acquaint himself to the Islands and to see first hand the changes that have taken place since he left eight years ago. Mr. Richard Liddell, non-executive Chairman and Mr. John Armstrong, non-executive Director, have accompanied Mr. Bushell on this visit to introduce him to Government Officials, some of whom Mr. Bushell worked with in 1998. And, they will brief FIG on progress that FOGL has made thus far.
Keen to talk about his new role and the good prospects in the South Falkland Basin, Tim Bushell told FINN what progress the FOGL has made thus far.
TB: The 2D – we are planning to shoot 25,000 km of 2D. That survey started last year and it started very well. At the moment we have shot a total of 21,500 so we have 3,500 left to shoot. The plan is that the GSI Pacific – she’s currently working in the North Falkland Basin for Rockhopper Petroleum. She will come back to our area in about two weeks time and they will complete the survey by the end of March.
Once we have completed the 2D survey there will be quite a lot of work to be done back in London on interpreting that seismic data. And, that’s an on-going process. We get encouragement from the data but we don’t anticipate the actual interpretation of the 2D until later this summer (northern). We are already starting to think about planning for a 3D survey. And, that survey will take place at the end of this year at the earliest. So, that’s the current thinking.
Until we actually finish interpreting the 2D it is difficult to say where that 3D survey will be or if one survey area is split into two or three. It depends on what comes out on the map of the 2D Survey.
Certainly our intention is to come back and acquire 3D seismic. Probably at the same time we will go and get an electromagnetic seabed survey as well, which is another way of trying to reduce the risk of exploration drilling. That survey will also take place at the end of this year or early next year.
FINN: Supposing you had success and found hydrocarbons in commercial quantities, what will happen next?
TB: I suppose we would have to make people realise what is before them is a long time-frame. We wouldn’t bring in an exploration rig in for a few years’ time, so the earliest we could see exploration drilling could be early in 2007 – more likely 2008. Then, because of the size of the area, we would drill quite a number of exploration wells.
If we had some success we would try and evaluate just how big the area is so quite a swathe of exploration drilling could take several years. The next phase after that is to go and appraise those discoveries to see how big they are. That whole exploration appraisal period could be anywhere from four to five years. Any development is actually quite a long way off. It could be nine years away from where we are now.
Again, it depends on what we find, exactly, and how big the find is. Given the water depths and what we know about the area so far, we will see the challenges of development. It will be an offshore development very similar to what happens in the Gulf of Mexico or somewhere like West Africa or Brazil
In the Falklands all the facilities will be offshore – the oil will be produced offshore, loaded into tankers and the tankers would sail away to the markets in North America or Europe. From the Falklands perspective you would see supply boats coming and going but you wouldn’t see any actual facilities on shore. It will all be 200 miles offshore.
FINN: During the lengthy time that you mentioned, would you have a presence here in the Falklands or would everything fold up like it did the last time and go away?
TB: If we are successful there will be a continuous piece of activity. If we are successful we would bring a rig down here. We would keep that rig here and then plan very shortly afterwards to bring in a rig to do more work. We would need fairly full time logistic support in the Islands. As we found last time, the facilities are all here. We’ve got all the things we need. FIPASS is a good dock, there are warehouses and we’ve got some local representation here. From an operational perspective, we would have people on the ground in the Islands, as long as we are operating the drilling rig. Hopefully this time around, if we get some encouragement there will be a presence here.
FINN: Would people in the Falklands be able to take advantage of any oil and/or gas supplies to save on fuel and heating costs?
“If we find a large volume of gas it is most likely to be developed using a liquefied process and the product of that is transported in liquid form to markets outside of this area. That’s not to say that there couldn’t be a domestic supply of gas taken from that facility if that were the right solution for the Islands,” Mr. Richard Liddell said
Any way you look at it there is a right solution for the future of the hydrocarbons industry in the South Falkland Basin. These new oil reserves could be the answer to dwindling reserves elsewhere as well as being able to supply increasing demand from the Peoples’ Republic of China and the rest of the world. Ultimately our reserves could help drive the upward fluctuation of oil prices in the other direction.
At any rate, FOGL is in a prime position to make things happen. “We would like to attract a large oil company or two into the business so that we will have the cash to bring the final exploration stage and even the production stage into fruition,” said Mr. John Armstrong.
FOGL have no doubts that they are sitting on something big. The whole exploration area is brimming with hot spots with excellent seismic waiting to be analysed. One only has to look at the map to see how evenly spread those prospects are throughout the 25,000 sq km to know that something big (it’s reported to be at least 10Billion barrels) and worth significant investment.
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