Pantheon Resources PLC on Thursday said it has accepted and paid for the award of 39,540 acres from the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

The oil and gas company focused on onshore operations in the US, including several large projects on Alaska’s North Slope, said 25,460 acres of the award is the northern extension and updip portion of its Theta West Basin Floor Fan. The firm said 14,080 acres of the award covers areas around its Alkaid and Talitha units.

The company was the successful bidder of the lease in last year’s state lease sale.

Pantheon noted that the award covers an extension for existing discoveries that it could not delineate off its existing proprietary 3D seismic, with the company expecting to be able to upgrade its resource base from the additional acreage.

The firm also noted that the new basin floor fan acreage is ‘structurally higher’, meaning that it is expected to exhibit an improvement in reservoir qualities. The company said the improvement should lead to higher recovery and better reservoir productivity.

Chief Executive Jay Cheatham said: ‘Pantheon will soon have c. 193,000 acres under lease with a material resource base in the billions of barrels. In the past we have limited our public profile to reduce competition for offset acreage while we acquired the current acreage position.

‘Pantheon now intends to increase the profile of its project geology without fear of competition and to assist in attracting potential farm-in partners.’

Pantheon shares fell 2.5% to 15.34 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.

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