Ithaca Energy's shares rise on oil discovery

21st Feb 2014 14:30

Ithaca Energy's shares advanced after announcing it has discovered oil at an exploration well in the Norwegian North Sea.The 25/5-9 well on the Trell prospect in licence PL102 F/G intersected 19 metres of net pay in excellent quality Heimdal reservoir in the Paleocene Heimdal Formation. Wireline logs and pressure data have confirmed a hydrocarbon contact. Samples of oil and water were acquired for further analysis. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery at between 3.1 and 12.5m barrels of recoverable oil. Ithaca entered into an agreement with operator Total in December 2013 to acquire a 10% working interest in licences PL102 F/G. Completion of the transaction is currently progressing through the normal regulatory consents. The well was drilled to 2240 metres true vertical depth subsea and encountered a 21 metre gross oil column. Shares in Ithaca Energy rose 2.47% to 135p at 14:37 on Friday.RD