Sound Opts to Keep All of its Badile Prospect

Sound Oil announced Tuesday that it has decided to retain its 100-percent position in its Badile exploration prospect in northern Italy.

Sound confirmed that it had received an offer before Feb. 1 to farm into the Badile prospect from an unnamed "Italian oil and gas major". It said that the major had "deep knowledge of the area" having conducted extensive technical due diligence, but that it had decided to decline the offer as it did not reflect the asset's potential.

According to Sound, the Badile prospect potentially holds 185 billion cubic feet of gas or 22 million barrels of oil (MMbo). It is located some 20 miles southeast of the geologically-analogous Villafortuna-Trecate field – which has recoverable reserves of around 250 MMbo.

Sound estimates that an exploration well on the Badile prospect will cost some $27 million. During the next few months the company plans to submit a drilling request and Environmental Impact Assessment to the Italian permitting authorities, targeting a Badile well in 2014 with Sound as an operator.

Sound CEO James Parsons commented in a statement:

"I am pleased to have secured an offer from a credible potential partner, which validates our technical view of the asset.

"We have chosen to retain the upside exposure and also control of project budgets and timelines. We will now prepare for drilling and continued de-risking of the asset whilst remaining open to offers, either after securing the EIA approval or indeed after delivery of a successful exploration well in 2014."

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