Desire Petroleum held out the prospect of an oil bonanza off the Falkland Islands on Wednesday as it pointed to the chances of a strike to the south of finds in the Sea Lion and Beverley fields.
Its upbeat statement, pointing to a reasonable chance of a commercial strike, follows the analysis of seismic data for a block in which it holds a 92.5 per cent stake.
Desire said shareholders could profit if Elaine and Isobel prospects, in waters near to those successfully drilled by fellow explorer Rockhopper, could attract “industry partners to participate in further exploration of our licences”.
For that, read that Desire has ruled out going it alone on a drilling campaign and will look to dilute its working interest in the hope of paying for a rig.
That is a route already taken by Rockhopper and Falkland Oil & Gas, fellow licence holders in waters whose sovereignty is disputed by Argentina. Both in recent weeks have struck deals with larger partners to take projects forward.