Desire shares rise on new Falklands discovery

SHARES in Midland based oil and gas exploration firm Desire Petroleum, which is wholly focused on the North Falkland Basin, rose by almost a quarter today on news that fellow NFB drilling company Rockhopper Exploration could have made a significant strike.

Rockhopper said its latest well in the Sea Lion field had shown evidence of significant deposits of hydrocarbons.

Samuel Moody, Rockhopper chief executive, said: “Following this positive result we believe Sea Lion is highly likely to prove commercially viable.  

“The well has confirmed our ability to identify good reservoir units on the seismic in our acreage with the sands coming in very close to prognosis. We can now continue to appraise the Sea Lion discovery and to explore additional prospectivity within our acreage with added confidence.”

Rockhopper said the well would now be plugged and abandoned as had been planned.  The Ocean Guardian semi-submersible rig, which it is leasing, will then proceed to drill the Ninky prospect – in which Rockhopper has a non-operational 7.5% interest.

Following this, Rockhopper said it intended to drill a minimum of three further appraisal wells on the Sea Lion feature.  

Malvern registered Desire has a licensing interest with Rockhopper so a strike from one of the company’s tends to immediately impact the other.

The current volatility in the oil markets is also thought to have had an impact on the new discovery, with secure alternatives to Middle Eastern reserves proving to be appealing propositions, although it will be years before any oil would be ready for commercial extraction.

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