LONDON (Alliance News) - The Horse Hill project near Gatwick Airport will be in a "suspended state", according to a Telegraph report online on Wednesday, as its backers don't have the necessary approvals from government agencies.
According to the report, operator Horse Hill Developments Ltd has not directly applied to the UK Oil and Gas Authority to obtain the permission needed to begin flow testing the Horse Hill-1 well in the Weald Basin.
The Horse Hill project, which recently announced a potential major oil find near Gatwick Airport, is operated by Horse Hill Developments, which owns a 65% stake in the prospect and the remaining 35% of the prospect is held by Magellan Petroleum Corp.
UK Oil & Gas Investments holds a 30% stake in Horse Hill Developments, whilst Doriemus PLC, Stellar Resources PLC, Solo Oil PLC and Alba Mineral Resources PLC each hold 10% stakes in Horse Hill Developments, with Evocutis PLC holding a 2% stake and the balance is owned by Angus Energy, in which UK Oil & Gas has a 6% stake.
In separate statements on Tuesday, the companies said the two Horse Hill licenses, PEDL 137 and PEDL 246, are due to expire on September 30, 2015 and June 30, 2019, respectively, adding that Horse Hill Developments has already applied for a one-year extension to the PEDL 137 license, host to the potentially large oil find, through the UK Oil and Gas Authority.
The Telegraph report said that the approval for further drilling is separate to the move to extend the Horse Hill licences.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/11569092/Gatwick-oil-project-suspended-amid-permit-confusion.html
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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