Navitas revises Falklands' Sea Lion development plan

Navitas Petroleum LP, operator of the Falkland Islands Sea Lion project in the North Falkland basin, has revised its plan for development based on an updated independent resource report, partner Rockhopper Exploration PLC said in a release Mar. 24.

The new plan adopts a staged approach and will reduce upfront capex and life-of-field costs and increase recoverable resources, Rockhopper said. It proposes 18 wells to be drilled in Phase 1, 11 of these coming before first oil. The Phase 2 drilling campaign will add a further five wells about 42 months after first oil. Those later wells will also be tied into the FPSO to extend the production plateau.

The plan still achieves plateau production rate in the initial stage of about 80,000 b/d, a peak production rate of about 100,000 b/d, and recovery of over 269 MMbbl of oil (2C development pending) out of 712 MMbbl (2C total).

Final investment decision (FID) on the project is expected in 2024. Technical work continues to further refine the project, the company said. Time from FID to first oil is 30 months based on a redeployed FPSO. Drilling is expected to start about 12 months post FID.

Navitas is operator at Sea Lion (65%) with Rockhopper holding the remaining 35% (OGJ Online, Nov. 30, 2022).