XCD Energy unveils first Nanushuk oil play lead at Alaskan project
XCD Energy has internally estimated an unrisked recoverable prospective resource for its Merlin lead at Project Peregrine of 255 million barrels of oil (best-estimate).
Alaska-focused oil junior XCD Energy (ASX: XCD) has announced a prospective oil resource for the first lead identified within its wholly-owned Project Peregrine.
The company today revealed an internal estimate for its ‘Merlin’ lead, calculating a best-estimate unrisked recoverable prospective resource of 255 million barrels of oil.
According to XCD, Merlin is the first of many leads mapped within the company’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) lease area, spanning some 150,000 acres, and is mapped to be on trend with ConocoPhillips’ major Willow oil discovery, located about 35km to the north.
This best-estimate is based on a calculated 1.112 billion barrels of original oil-in-place with a 23% recovery factor.
The low to high recoverable resource estimates range from 59MMbbls to 1.099BBbbls.
According to XCD, the chance of discovery for the Merlin lead has been estimated at 13% with a 50% chance of development.
Independent resource estimate
The company said it expects to complete the Integrated Nanushuk Technical Regional Overview or ‘INTRO’ study it is currently undertaking at Project Peregrine later this month.
This study involves the integration of reprocessed data with other regional seismic and well data to provide an improved understanding of the Nanushuk oil play.
Immediately following completion of the study, an independent prospective resource report covering all of the project’s leads is due to commence, XCD said.
“We look forward to now completing the INTRO Project and delineating the additional leads already identified and having them independently verified to further add to the overall prospective resources in our acreage in Alaska,” XCD managing director Dougal Ferguson said.
Further exploration plans
According to XCD, additional planned exploration activities to further delineate Merlin and other leads within Project Peregrine could include 3D seismic acquisition.
The company also intends to drill an exploration well in early 2021, subject to farm-out or additional fundraising.
XCD took over the 13 leases making up Project Peregrine at the start of this year when it acquired Elixir Petroleum (ASX: EXR)’s subsidiary, Emerald House.