Orcadian Energy, the low-emissions North Sea oil and gas development company, today announced its audited results for the twelve months ended 30 June 2024.

Highlights

• Completed the sale of an 81.25% interest in Licence P2244 to Ping Petroleum UK plc (“Ping”), leaving Orcadian with an 18.75% interest in the Pilot Licence carried to first oil, gross reserves in Pilot are 78.8 MMbbl.

Awarded three new licences in the 33rd Round:

• Licence P2634, in which Orcadian has a 50% interest, contains a large viscous oil discovery, Fynn Beauly, which could provide a suitable feedstock for anode grade cokers, which can create the synthetic graphite used for EV anodes. Serica has recently announced the intended acquisition of Parkmead (E&P) Ltd, the operator of this licence. The Company are delighted to welcome Serica on to the licence and look forward to progressing this project with Serica as operator.
• Licence P2650, in which Orcadian has a 50% interest and is operator. This licence contains shallow gas prospects which can be drilled at low cost. Prospective resources are some 269 bcf of gas.
• Licence P2680, in which Orcadian held 100% at 30 June 2024, that contains the Earlham discovery (114 bcf, contingent) and the Orwell redevelopment project (31 bcf, contingent), as well as the Clover gas prospect (153 bcf, prospective).

Since the end of the period under review:

• Agreement to sell a 50% interest in a sub-area of Licence P2680, containing the Earlham and Orwell fields, to The Marine Low Carbon Power Ltd (“MLCP”) leaving Orcadian with a 50% interest in the sub-area of the Licence carried to first gas. Gross recoverable fuel gas contingent resources in Earlham and Orwell are 145 bcf;
• Shell loan assigned to The Independent Power Corporation Ltd (“IPC”) and agreement to settle the loan as part of the proceeds from the sale of the P2680 licence interest to MLCP;
• Acquisition of HALO Offshore UK Ltd (“HALO”) and subsequent sale of a 50% interest in HALO to IPC, with IPC providing access to acquisition finance; and
• New focus on acquiring producing licence interests on the UKCS through HALO which has incurred £52.6 million of pre-trading capital expenditures which should provide allowances to offset against tax payable on any producing licence interests to be acquired.

Steve Brown, Orcadian’s CEO, said:
“2024 has been a very busy period for the Company. We completed on the sale of Pilot and are working with the operator to progress the project once regulatory and fiscal clarity emerge in the Spring.

We also accepted all the licences that we applied for in the 33rd round and had always seen Earlham as a project that we could move rapidly towards development. Partnering with MLCP, who have been working on the design of an offshore power station with integrated carbon capture for four years, made great sense to us. We are delighted to be supporting MLCP in the delivery of this project.

Finally, we acquired HALO Offshore UK Ltd and will bring IPC in as an equal partner to enable HALO to acquire producing assets on the UKCS with an objective of turning HALO into a dividend paying entity as soon as possible.

We look forward to the year ahead and progressing all these projects with our partners.”

KeyFacts Energy: Orcadian Energy UK country profile