Desire Petroleum plc was an

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

company headquartered in Malvern,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It owned offshore exploration and production licences in the North Falkland Basin in the waters north of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

and its core focus was to develop the basin into a major new hydrocarbon province. Desire Petroleum was acquired by

Falkland Oil and Gas Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd, abbreviated to FOGL, was an energy company registered in the Falkland Islands and headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Its business was based on exploring for offshore oil reserves off the coast of the Falklands. ...

for £61million on 5 December 2013. Falkland Oil & Gas was itself acquired by

Rockhopper Exploration Rockhopper Exploration PLC is an oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. It owns offshore exploration and production licences in the North Falkland Basin in the waters north of the Falkland Islands. ...

plc in November 2015.

History

Desire Petroleum was founded in 1996 by Dr Colin Phipps, a former geologist for

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

. The company was named after ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of ...

'', the ship, captained by John Davis, which discovered the Falkland Islands in 1592. In 1998 the company was floated on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

. Desire Petroleum were awarded licences for drilling in the Falklands in 1997, and test drilling was carried out in 1998. Oil was not found in commercial quantities, and the

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

, until 2007-8 was not high enough to make it viable, and exploration companies left the area. A 3D seismic survey was acquired in 2004 which showed great oil potential.

2010-11 drilling programme

In February 2010 Desire began a programme of exploratory drilling, with costs shared by farming out drilling slots to

(of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

) and Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd, in the North Falkland Basin. In the northern section of the basin this covers the prospects of Rachel, Kath, Pam, Ann, Anna, Liz, South Orca, Ninky, Beth, Jayne and Helen. In the southern section are Dawn, Alpha, Kate, Ruth and Barbara. The first well was categorised as a gas discovery, with one other gas event and two sets of oil shows encountered. Stock market disappointment that the first well was not an immediate commercial discovery of oil led to an immediate slump in share price, though Desire continue to analyse the data gathered in order to assist with the remainder of the drilling programme. The second well, drilling for partner company

, was an oil discovery which further confirmed the geological model for the North Falkland Basin for Desire and Rockhopper's remaining prospects.

Acquisition

The company was sold in December 2013 to

for £61million.

References

External links

Obituary of Desire Petroleum
{{Energy in the United Kingdom, companies Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Herefordshire Energy companies established in 1996 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in England Economy of the Falkland Islands