Hansa Hydrocarbons enters Denmark with two licence awards (illustration: Hansa Hydrocarbons)

Hansa Hydrocarbons Limited has announced it has been provisionally awarded two new licences under the Danish 7th Licensing Round – Licences 7/16 and 14/16 in the Danish sector of the North Sea. The awards remain subject to ratification by the Danish parliament.

Licence 7/16 covers an area of 306.4 km² down to a depth limit of 1700 metres and is situated adjacent to the German median line to the south. The exploration objectives are an extension of the Late Miocene oil play successfully appraised in 2015 with the Lille John-2 well and side-track by Dana Petroleum Limited. The Lille John discovery of light 34°-35° API oil gives support to a number of large seismic anomalies identified in similar age sandstones being oil-filled. The licence term is six years with a drill or drop decision at the end of the third year. The firm work program consists of reprocessing existing 3D seismic data, combined with AVO and inversion studies, de-risking the identified prospectivity prior to drilling. Partners on the licence will be Hansa (50%, operator), Edison International S.p.a. (30%) and Nordsøfonden (20%).

Licence 14/16 covers an area of 284.9 km² and is located on the northernmost margin of the Southern Permian Basin on the western limit of the Danish offshore, bounded to the west by the UK median line and to the south by the German median line. Extensive in-house regional geological studies, combined with a rigorous analysis of the available 3D seismic, support material prospectivity in Jurassic-age oil-prone stratigraphic traps on the flanks of the Mid North Sea High. The licence term is six years with a decision at the end of the second year to either acquire a new 3D seismic survey or to drill an exploration well. The firm work program consists of reprocessing existing 3D seismic data in order to improve the structural definition prior to taking the decision to enter the next phase of the licence with the appropriate work program. Partners on the licence will be Hansa (32%), Edison International S.p.a. (48%, operator) and Nordsøfonden (20%).

John Martin, Hansa Hydrocarbon’s CEO, says, “At a time of a major industry downturn, these awards represent a great opportunity for Hansa to build out its exploration portfolio with high quality, high impact acreage in a new core area. We have recognised for some time that offshore Denmark is relatively lightly explored compared to other North Sea sectors, especially given the multiple play types present and the infrequent licensing rounds. The awards are the result of some considerable effort in regional work and once again demonstrate how a small technically focused company can be successful in leveraging knowledge across borders. Furthermore we are delighted to be partnering with Edison and Nordsøfonden for the first time and look forward to working together to mature the prospectivity on these high potential exploration licences.”

Tags: Hansa Hydrocarbons Limited