Monthly Lecture – 16th of April 2026

The Baker gas discovery is located in UK licence P2433 in the Western Southern North Sea, between the Rough and Tolmount fields. The discovery targets the Rotliegend Lower Leman Sandstone, part of a proven Permian–Carboniferous gas play. Petrogas holds a 100% working interest in both the Baker (P2433) and adjacent Abbey (P2582) licences. Baker is situated at the western margin of the Permian basin, where the Lower Leman thins and reservoir development is additionally influenced by Carboniferous paleo‑relief and syn‑tectonic deposition. These factors result in pronounced local variability in sand thickness and reservoir quality. The structure is a three‑way fault‑bounded horst block, relying on fault seal against the downthrown Zechstein and Silverpit Formations for hydrocarbon retention. Pre‑drill upside was associated with a sand‑on‑sand fault juxtaposition, providing additional trapping potential. The well was positioned such to test the brightest part of the amplitude anomaly observed at Baker.

The exploration well was drilled by the Noble Resilient jack‑up rig, spudded in September 2024, and safely reached total depth with high‑quality data acquisition. Results exceeded pre‑drill expectations, with significantly better reservoir quality than predicted. Improved reservoir performance is attributed to a high proportion of aeolian facies with very low associated detrital clay, which together with a lack of compaction, has resulted in minimal development of authigenic illite cementation in the aeolian facies. The Baker discovery exceeds observed reservoir quality on nearby Apollo and Abbey analogues and demonstrates significant Lower Leman reservoir variability at the basin margin, consistent with observations from the Tolmount discovery. These results materially upgrade near‑field prospectivity and support further exploration work in the area.