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LONDON (Alliance News) - The AIM-listed companies involved in the Horse Hill project in southern England on Tuesday said new estimates have been carried out on the Upper Portland pay zone that have suggested there is almost three times as much oil in place than previously thought.
The companies involved said there is now thought to be around 22.9 million barrels of oil-in-place per square mile within the Upper Portland pay zone, a huge rise from the previous estimate published last year of 7.7 million barrels per square mile.
The Portland pay zone has been flow tested previously, delivering a stable rate of 323 barrels per day, and the partners are confident that can be increased further during the next phase of testing by using a higher capacity downhole pump.
Although the estimates should not be classed as recoverable resources, Portland is only one of numerous targets at Horse Hill. The Kimmeridge and Jurassic shale and limestone sequence at the project is calculated to have oil in place of around 158 million barrels per square mile at the Horse Hill-1 well, with considerably more thought to be within the wider 55-square mile area of the licence.
A planning and environmental assessment practitioner, Barton Wilmore Ltd, has been engaged to help prepare and submit a planning application to Surrey County Council so a "significant appraisal programme" can be carried out at the project and to help obtain the required environmental approvals needed in the longer term.
The application will be asking permission to conduct production flow tests over three Kimmeridge limestone zones plus the overlying Portland zone. The tests could last up to one year, and the companies also plan to drill two further appraisal or development wells and acquire further 3D seismic data.
A public consultation concerning the planning application will be held before the application is actually submitted to authorities.
Horse Hill Developments is the operator of the licenses that home the project, PEDL137 and PEDL246, and owns a 65% stake, with the rest held by Magellan Petroleum Corp.
UK Oil & Gas holds a 30% stake in Horse Hill Developments and Alba Mineral Resources PLC a 15% interest. Stellar Resources PLC and Solo Oil PLC each hold 10% stakes in Horse Hill Developments. Regency Mines PLC holds a 5% stake, and Evocutis PLC holds a smaller a 2% stake.
UK Oil & Gas and Alba Mineral shares were both trading flat on Tuesday morning, Stellar shares were down 3.2% and Evocutis shares were down 2.8%. Solo shares were trading up 3.5% and Regency shares were up 0.7%.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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