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(Alliance News) - Angus Energy PLC said on Friday that it plans to post an application for further work to be done in the Balcombe field in West Sussex by the end of August.
The company needs approval from West Sussex County Council before undertaking more work in the field. Planning permission in the field expired after the oil and gas producers said earlier operations were completed. The firm said applying for planning permission is a lengthy process where consultants and contractors assess the environmental impact of further work.
Angus Energy have also not ruled selling its Brockham field after recent tests found no meaningful traces of hydrocarbons.
The company said that the reason for poor production in the field could be because it is on the edge of Kimmeridge basin, where its clay may not have a maturity high enough to allow generation of commercial oil qualities.
Other potentially more productive Kimmeridge fields like Balcombe and Horse Hill are not on the basin's fringes.
In a June announcement, Managing Director George Lucan said: ""The result from recent works is clearly disappointing although as stated above we are examining our options for the Pl235 Licence including the Brockham site."
"This serves to underline the importance of our strategy of diversifying our source of hydrocarbons by participating in the developments of fields which already have a proven production record but bring with them very substantial reserve opportunities," Lucan added.
Shares in Angus Energy were down 9.8% at 1.26 pence each in London on Friday afternoon.