Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), has indicated that it is on track to spud the Perseverance #1 well in December 2020.
The company has indicated that the Stena IceMAX has been contracted for the drilling work. The IceMAX is one of the most technically capable drillships in the world and has completed all necessary vessel and equipment inspections, and is scheduled to leave dock in the Canary Islands before the end of November 2020, heading to location in preparation to drill the well. Stena Drilling has indicated that the intended operational start date will be December 15th, 2020. BPC anticipates that it will take four to five days from this start date for the rig to be provisioned, loaded, and then transitioned to the drilling location for spud of the well.
BPC expects that drilling should take between 45 and 60 days, with 'tight-hole' procedures in place. The company is targeting recoverable prospective resources of 0.7 billion barrels of oil, with an upside of 1.44 billion barrels, solely for the northern portion of the B structure.
In the event of success, Perseverance #1 would substantially derisk the total B structure, which extends for between 70 and 80 km, has a mapped areal closure of over 400 km2, and has a 'best estimate' aggregate recoverable resource potential in excess of 2.0 billion barrels.
Simon Potter, CEO, BPC, said "Many shareholders have been extremely patient and have stayed the distance, as has the majority of the management team, and we are now in the position to deliver the Perseverance #1 exploration well in compliance with our long-held exploration licences in The Bahamas. Perseverance #1 is a potentially basin-opening well, with the kind of scale and associated value uplift exposure rarely offered outside of oil majors.
At the same time, in the event of success, our activities have the capacity to be economically transformative for The Bahamas, and could ultimately contribute billions of dollars in royalty revenues to the national treasury at a time when the dual impact of recent hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hardfelt by most Bahamians. Over the past decade, many other nations in the region such as USA, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Guyana, have safely and responsibly drilled offshore wells, developed or continue to develop offshore hydrocarbon resources, and reaped the economic benefits of an established or a whole new industry. Moreover, these other nations have been able to do so while seeing the growth and development of existing industry sectors, such as tourism.
BPC is fully committed to ensuring safe and responsible operations, and has assembled an experienced team of drilling personnel, supported by many of the world's largest and most respected oil services contractors, with a collective track record of drilling many thousands of wells safely, all around the globe. We are especially pleased that one of the most modern, technically capable drilling vessels in the world will soon leave port ahead of drilling. In support of this, BPC plans to mobilise both equipment and personnel safely to site have been finalised, funding is in place, and we have completed a huge body of work to ensure that best practices have been applied as our health and environmental safety plans and protocols have been developed, contracted, and approved. I look forward to updating shareholders of our continued progress – this is an exciting time for BPC."
Perseverance #1 is an offshore oil exploration well, 100% owned and operated by BPC. The well is located in the far southern territorial waters of The Bahamas, adjacent to the Cuba-Bahamas maritime border.
According to BPC, the best estimate prospective recoverable oil resource at the Perseverance #1 location is 767 million barrels, with an upside of 1.444 billion barrels (assuming the same recovery factor). It is anticipated that any discovery at this location has the potential to expand into a larger portion of the overall B structure extending to the south-east. In aggregate, the entire B structure extends for approximately 75 kilometres along strike and accommodates over 400 km2 of mapped closure with the entire structure having a combined 'best estimate' prospective resource of in excess of 2.0 billion barrels, and gross column height of up to 1,000 metres.
