LONDON (Alliance News) - The oil companies behind the Horse Hill project in the Weald Basin in the UK on Thursday said the Horse Hill-1 well has been drilled to a deeper interim depth than previously announced, due to a number of reservoir targets being identified slightly deeper and thicker than expected.
The Horse Hill-1 well is located on the northern side of the Weald Basin near Gatwick airport.
There are seven companies with a stake in Horse Hill Developments Ltd, a special-purpose vehicle which owns a 65% participating interest in the Horse Hill licence. The remaining 35% is held by Magellan Petroleum (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of Magellan Petroleum Corp of the US.
UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC owns a 20% stake in the vehicle, with Doriemus PLC, Stellar Resources PLC and Solo Oil PLC each holding 10% stakes and Regency Mines PLC and Alba Mineral Resources PLC each owning 5% stakes. Angus Energy Ltd, a company in which UK Oil & Gas Investments has a 6% stake, holds the remaining 40% of Horse Hill Developments.
In separate but identical statements Thursday, the oil companies said the Horse Hill-1 well has been drilled to the third casing point at 6,612 feet measured depth and will now be electrically logged through the observed reservoir sections. They said the electronic logging and full interpretation of those logs is expected to take approximately one week.
The depth of the third casing point was deepened from the previously announced 5,900 feet to 6,612 feet measured depth due to a number of reservoir targets being identified slightly deeper and thicker than expected, they said.
"We await the results of the all-important electric logs from the Jurassic over the coming week and look forward to drilling the well to its total depth to test the theory that hydrocarbons may be present in the Triassic," said David Lenigas, chairman of Stellar Resources and UK Oil & Gas Investments.
Shares in Stellar Resources were down 5.4% at 0.663 pence at midday Thursday. Solo Oil shares were down 6.6% at 0.700p, and Doriemus shares were down 4.3%, trading at 0.146p.
Regency Mines shares were up 2.5% at 0.303p, and Alba Mineral Resources were trading 4.5% lower at 0.750p. Shares in UK Oil & Gas Investments were down 3.4% at 0.990p.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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