The Condor Prospect is located along the Tuscaloosa Trend in central Louisiana, which over the past 11 years has seen a resurgence in exploration activity led by Amoco and now BP.

Pryme managing director Justin Pettett described the Tuscaloosa Trend as a very large target for his company.

“To be involved in a project such as Condor at the size and capitalisation of Pryme is unique. We are exploring in the same areas as household names such as BP,” he said.

“Any project that Pryme can be involved in drilling through the Tuscaloosa exposes the company to a potential substantial increase in value and cash flow.”

The Condor project, which has multiple Tuscaloosa targets that have historically produced more than 100 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas, involved assembling leases on two prospects with target depths of between 17,500 and 18,000 feet (5334-5486m).

The first drilling location will target multi-zone, proven undeveloped reserves, with potential to drill for deeper sands on trend. The second location will target a seismic-defined up-dip location offsetting a well that has produced more than 20Bcf to date.

Estimated reserves from the two wells are 40Bcf of gas.

In addition, the potential exists to pursue deeper, exploration opportunities in the southern portion of the project area. The Judge Digby field has reported significant discoveries in deeper intervals over the past 10 years, according to Pryme.

A detailed reservoir study, commissioned by Wave, has also been conducted across the field including seismic interpretation, reservoir net pay mapping, and both engineering and log analysis evaluation by outside consultants.

The study concludes that 40-90Bcf remain in the existing reservoirs. The JV believes that the previous operators failed to produce all of the reserves in the fault block due to perforating multiple zones simultaneously, meaning they were unable to recognise the lack of contribution from zones that had “sanded up”.

Pryme said this situation is common across the trend due to the nature of these highly porous and permeable sands. In the early 1990s, Amoco performed the same type of evaluation on trend in a nearby field, resulting in additional infill development.

Pryme and Wave have a combined working interest of 100% in Condor, with Pryme’s participating working interest expected to be as high as 50%, depending on the ultimate negotiated trade for the capitalisation of the prospect.

In addition, Pryme, under its JV agreement with Wave, will earn 45% of all promotes including overrides, carried working interests and cash fees, which further bolsters the company’s revenue stream and gas reserves.