Orcadian secures two-year extension to North Sea licence
By Josh White
Date: Wednesday 18 Jun 2025
(Sharecast News) - Orcadian Energy announced on Wednesday that it has secured a two-year extension to phase B of its P2482 licence in the North Sea, extending the term to 14 July 2027.
The AIM-traded firm said the licence included the Elke and Narwhal oil discoveries, with net 2C resources of 45 million and nine million barrels respectively, as previously audited by Sproule.
In addition to the discovered resources, Orcadian said it had identified a further 53 million barrels of prospective resources across the licence area, supported by extended elastic impedance analysis from TGS.
Upon approval of the Pilot field development plan, TGS was expected to acquire 100 square kilometres of new 3D seismic over P2482, particularly covering Narwhal, which is currently mapped using 2D seismic data.
The extension would allow Orcadian, as operator of Elke, and Ping Petroleum, operator of the nearby Pilot field, to work with the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to refine an area-wide development plan.
Ping was progressing development studies for Pilot, including collaboration with SNF and Heriot-Watt University to optimise polymer flooding techniques.
Orcadian holds an 18.75% carried interest in the Pilot project through to first oil.
Separately, Orcadian confirmed that it was advancing plans with the Independent Power Corporation and the Marine Low Carbon Power Company to transfer ownership of gas licences P2680 - Earlham and Orwell - and potentially P2650 into a corporate joint venture.
The venture would be designed to support the development of offshore power generation projects supplying zero-carbon electricity to IPC's industrial customer base.
2We are delighted to have received this licence extension which maximises the probability of us designing an area development plan which optimises the development of all the viscous oil resources in the Pilot area," said chief executive officer Steve Brown.
"We believe that Pilot and Elke can form the basis of a new low-emissions hub for the development of the major resources in this area.
"We really believe that the IPC and MLCP projects can demonstrate that abated gas works and is critical to the success of the UK's clean power plan."
At 0857 BST, shares in Orcadian Energy were up 3.14% at 10.83p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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