Hartshead Resources Limited (Hartshead, HRL or the Company) are pleased to announce the results of a recently completed Independent Contingent Resources Review and Audit , by Oilfield Production Consultants (OPC) Ltd, of the Victoria and Viking-Wx gas fields awarded to HRL in the UK 32nd Offshore Licensing Round.

Highlights

Review and audit of HRL’s designated Phase I joint development fields (100% working interest), Victoria and Viking-Wx, yields a combined 217 Bcf  of 2C Contingent Resources:

• Victoria field – 125 Bcf of audited 2C Contingent Resources
• Viking-Wx field – 90 Bcf of audited 2C Contingent Resources
• The 1C Contingent Resources for the combined joint development of the Phase I fields is a commercially robust 161 Bcf;

OPC conducted a review of the subsurface work and conceptual development plan provided by Hartshead on the Victoria and Viking-Wx fields and concluded that the key risks and uncertainties have been conservatively captured and quantified by Hartshead;

The successfully developed Clipper South field has provided analogue data with respect to the potential performance of multi-stage hydraulically fractured deviated wells used to conservatively determine the Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR) in both Victoria and Viking-Wx.

OPC have completed an independent contingent resources review and audit of the Victoria and Viking-Wx gas fields located within blocks 49/6c, 49/11c, 49/12d, 49/15c and 49/17b of the UK southern gas basin which were provisionally awarded to HRL in the UK 32nd Offshore Licensing Round with a 100% working interest.   

The scope of the audit was to review the preliminary work conducted to date by Hartshead in determining the recoverable gas volumes for both the Victoria and Viking-Wx fields, which included a review of following aspects used to derive an estimate of the Gas-Initially-in-Place (GIIP) for each field:

• Seismic dataset interpretation (including depth conversion);
• Petrophysical/well dataset interpretation;
• The distribution of stochastic/probabilistic uncertainties applied to the GIIP estimates.

Based on Hartshead’s existing understanding of key reservoir engineering parameters, such as recovery factors, permeability, fluid contacts and well performance, the latter of which incorporated key data from the Clipper South field analogue, and using decline curve analysis of existing production data from the two fields, Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR) volumes were derived to determine the 1C, 2C and 3C contingent resources for the Victoria and Viking-Wx fields. These recoverable volumes were then stochastically combined to yield a combined joint development recoverable volume as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Gross Total Contingent Resources (100% working interest) for the Victoria and Viking-Wx Fields.

OPC acknowledges that Hartshead’s forward technical work programme will refine the uncertainties and risks associated with the subsurface and engineering parameters used in deriving their GIIP estimates.

Chris Lewis, CEO of Hartshead, commented: “This independent audit of the Phase 1 development area and plan confirms the resource base and commercial viability of the two-field development.  The next phase of detailed development planning will move the project further forward towards an approved development plan.”