Baron Oil upbeat on latest evaluation at Chuditch

South east Asia, Latin America and UK-focussed oil and gas exploration company Baron Oil updated the market on the Chuditch production sharing contract in Timor-Leste on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said it had presented a proposal to the country’s petroleum and minerals authority, ANPM, to allow the project to progress.

It said that included a request for a minimum extension of 12 months.

Baron Oil also announced a “significant” upgrade in estimated resources at Chuditch, with gross Mean gas initially in place now standing at 4,703 billion cubic feet.

Gross mean prospective resources now totalled 3,527 billion cubic feet, with mean prospective resources net to Baron’s interest coming in at 882 billion cubic feet.

“The results of the technical evaluation of legacy subsurface data have both confirmed and enhanced our view of the hydrocarbon potential in the Chuditch PSC,” said technical director Jon Ford.

“We look forward to refining the technical case as new information becomes available.

“Specifically, this will include the results of 3D seismic reprocessing aimed at reducing volumetric uncertainty and increasing confidence in the subsurface image so we may plan future drilling campaigns and commercial exploitation.”

Ford said the new evaluation of the large Chuditch North East lead close to the existing discovery, and other prospects further, established the company’s positive view of the “underexplored” area.

Chief executive officer Andy Yeo added that, after “much work” behind the scenes, the company had presented a “considered and workable” proposal to ANPM which, if accepted, would allow the project to progress.

“Meanwhile, a considerable amount of technical work has already been completed which has led to the introduction of a significant new lead - Chuditch North East - which, along with a material upgrade to gas recovery expectation, results in an aggregate gross Mean recoverable prospective resource of greater than 3,500 billion cubic feet of gas, or more than 580 million barrels of oil equivalent.

“The Chuditch PSC has the potential to be transformative for Baron and exemplifies our strategy of targeting material interests in high impact assets which have the ability to attract institutional interest.”

At 0916 GMT, shares in Baron Oil were up 25% at 0.1p.