Morocco Operational Update

RNS Number : 4004C

Cairn Energy PLC

17 March 2014

 



EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AT 0700                                                                      17 March  2014

CAIRN ENERGY PLC ("Cairn")

Morocco Operational Update

The following operational update relates to Cairn's 2014 exploration drilling campaign on the JM-1 well, offshore Morocco, where operations commenced in January 2014.

The JM-1 well (Cairn Working Interest (WI) 37.5% and Operator) drilled to evaluate Upper Jurassic and Middle Jurassic objectives reached a total depth of 3,711m TVDSS and has been plugged and abandoned without testing.

In the Upper Jurassic section, the well has confirmed the presence of heavy oil over a gross interval of 110 metres as originally tested in the 1968 MO-2 well, some 2km from the JM-1 well. Reservoir quality and the oil gravity in the Upper Jurassic across the Cap Juby structure require further evaluation by Cairn and its joint venture partners (Office National Des Hydrocarbures et Des Mines "ONHYM" and Genel Energy).  Work is ongoing to correlate the core and log data from JM-1 with other wells on Cap Juby to evaluate the extent of moveable hydrocarbons and how any further assessment should be conducted. 

The Middle Jurassic objective was encountered with limited primary porosity and evaluation of well logs and side wall cores continues.

The next well in Cairn's planned exploration programme is 'FAN-1' located in the Sangomar, Sangomar Deep and Rufisque blocks (Cairn 40% WI, Operator) offshore Senegal.  This well will target multiple stacked structural and stratigraphic fan closures interpreted as trapping a variety of potentially thick, high quality clastic reservoirs.

Enquiries:

Analysts/Investors David Nisbet, Corporate Affairs	Tel: [phone]
Media Patrick Handley, David Litterick Brunswick Group LLP	Tel: [phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

"Cairn" or the "Group" or the "Company" as the context requires refers to Cairn Energy PLC and/or any of its subsidiaries.

Cairn is one of Europe's leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Cairn has discovered and developed oil and gas reserves in a variety of locations around the world.

Cairn's business operations are now focused on frontier exploration acreage in Morocco, Senegal, Republic of Ireland, Greenland, Mauritania and the Mediterranean along with exploration and pre-development interests in the North Sea. Cairn has its headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland supported by operational offices in London, Greenland, Norway, Spain, Morocco and Senegal. 

Cairn and Corporate Responsibility

Ø Cairn is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and our core values of respect, responsibility, relationships and our commitments towards people, the environment and society are enshrined in our Business Principles, which are available on the Cairn website at http://www.cairnenergy.com/index.asp?pageid=282

Ø Cairn became a participating company in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in September 2013. The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies and civil society, who have adopted a multi-stakeholder approach to applying the EITI global standard promoting transparency of payments in the oil, gas and mining sectors http://eiti.org/

For further information on Cairn please see: www.cairnenergy.com

 

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