Desire Petroleum to play part in another drill in search for oil

Oil exploration firm Desire Petroleum has signed up for another drill as part of its Falklands campaign.

Malvern-based Desire (DES) has a 40 per cent stake, with fellow operator Rockhopper Exploration (RKH) taking a 60 per cent share, after signing up the Ocean Guardian drill rig for another well.

This comes after Rockhopper agreed a farm-in deal to take over part of Desire’s PL004 licence.

By carrying all the costs of the well Rockhopper will complete its acquisition of an additional stake in the joint venture licence.

Drilling will begin once the Ocean Guardian has completed it next scheduled well which will be Rockhopper’s 14/10-9 well, the eighth to test the Sea Lion oil discovery.

Through last week’s farm-in deal Rockhopper has cherry-picked part of the PL004 licence, covering around 23 per cent of the acreage. Desire keeps a 92.5 per cent stake in the rest of the licence.