09-06-09 Serica Energy has encountered oil in its drilling operations on the Bandon offshore exploration well in licence FEL 1/06 in the Slyne Basin, west of Ireland.
Drilled by Diamond Offshore semisubmersible Ocean Guardian to a total depth of 6,233 feet (1,899 m), the 27/4-1 well was drilled through the Jurassic and Sherwood intervals. A sidetrack was drilled to acquire additional data and samples.

The volume of oil in place cannot yet be estimated with certainty as technical work remains to be done, but Serica said the results to date are encouraging. Using the geological and petrophysical data obtained, Serica will now carry out a remapping exercise using the 3D seismic data to evaluate further the prospectivity of licence FEL 1/06 as well as the potential of the three remaining Sherwood sand gas prospects in the licence.
Serica CEO Paul Elis said, "This is the first oil discovery west of Ireland for nearly 30 years. Serica's 600 sq km licence area contains several prospects and we shall nowbe evaluating them as potential drilling targets. Although much more work needs to be done before the commercial potential of the discovery and the rest of the licence can be established, the Bandon oil discovery could mark the beginning of an exciting phase of Irish exploration."

Serica holds a 50 % interest in Irish Petroleum Exploration Licence FEL 1/06 comprising Blocks 27/4, 27/5 (part) and 27/9 in the Slyne Basin off the west coast of Ireland. This Frontier Licence was granted by the Irish government in December 2006 for a maximum term of 15 years and Serica is the licence operator.
The remaining 50 % interest is held by RWE Dea.

Serica is the operator of the Columbus field, under development offshore UK, and until July 2008 was the operator of the Kambuna field, under development offshore Indonesia.
Serica has a 50 % interest in both of these fields and holds other exploration and appraisal interests in the UK, Spain and Indonesia and in Vietnam, where it is currently drilling the Tuong Vi-1X exploration well in the 06/94 PSC in the Nam Con Son Basin.