29 Apr 2019 07:00
29 April 2019
EGDON RESOURCES PLC
("Egdon" or "the Company")
Wressle Planning Inquiry Date
Egdon Resources plc (AIM: EDR) advises that the Planning Inspectorate has now set the start date of the planning inquiry to hear the Company's appeal against the refusal of planning consent for the development of the Wressle oil field by North Lincolnshire Council's Planning Committee on 28 November 2018. The public inquiry will commence on 5 November 2019 with the hearing expected to last up to six days at a venue which has yet to be confirmed. The Planning Inspector will be Mr. Phillip Ware.
Mark Abbott, Managing Director of Egdon Resources plc, said:
"We look forward to a QC presenting our case for the planning merits of the Wressle development to an independent professional Planning Inspector away from the influence of local politics. We believe that we have a very strong case, supported by detailed evidence and agree with the conclusions of the Council's own professional planning officer, as reinforced by an expert third party review undertaken on behalf of the Council, who recommended our revised application for approval ahead of the November 2018 decision."
For further information please contact:
Egdon Resources plc
Mark Abbott 01256 702 292
Buchanan
Ben Romney, Chris Judd 020 7466 5000
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker - Cantor Fitzgerald Europe
David Porter/Nick Tulloch (Corporate Finance) 020 7894 7000
Caspar Shand Kydd (Sales)
Joint Broker - VSA Capital Limited
Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking) 020 3005 5000
Andrew Raca (Corporate Finance)
Notes to Editors:
Wressle:
The Wressle-1 well was drilled in 2014 and tested in 2015. Egdon Resources has a 30.00% operated interest in the field. The Wressle-1 well has flowed oil and gas from three separate reservoirs, the Ashover Grit, the Wingfield Flags and the Penistone Flags. This totalled 710 barrels of oil equivalent per day from all zones. In September 2016 a Competent Person's Report made independent estimates of Reserves and Contingent and Prospective oil and gas Resources for the Wressle discovery of 2.15 million stock tank barrels classified as discovered (2P+2C). Further information can be found at our Wressle Oil and Gas Discovery page http://www.egdon-resources.com/home/project-sites/wressle/
Planning history:
On 11 January 2017, North Lincolnshire Council refused planning consent for the original application for the development of the Wressle Oil Field at Lodge Farm, Wressle, North Lincolnshire.
On 7 February 2017, Egdon announced that it would both appeal the decision of 11 January 2017 and in parallel submit a new Planning Application for the Wressle development which would include even more detailed information to address the specific concerns outlined by North Lincolnshire Council in their refusal.
On 11 April 2017, Egdon submitted an appeal against North Lincolnshire Council's decision to refuse planning consent.
On 28 April 2017, Egdon submitted a new application for the Wressle Development including additional detailed information to address the specific concerns raised by North Lincolnshire Council in its 11 January 2017 decision to refuse the original application for the development of the Wressle Oil Field.
On 19 May 2017, Egdon announced the issue by the Environment Agency of the variation to the Mining Waste Permit for the planned Wressle field development and associated operations.
On 3 July 2017, the new planning application was also refused. The variation of the existing planning for the site requesting a twelve month extension was also refused at the same meeting.
During November 2017, a planning inquiry was held to consider the two appeals for development approval and the appeal of the variation of the existing planning for the site. On 5 January 2018, we announced that the Inspector had rejected the appeals by Egdon against the two planning refusals by North Lincolnshire County Council's Planning Committee. However, the Planning Inspectorate did uphold Egdon's appeal against the decision to refuse the application to retain the existing planning for the well site, which is was retained until the 28 April 2018.
A new application to extend the current planning consent was submitted on 13 April 2018 and refused 1 August 2018 and the company announced its intention to appeal the decision. On 24 January 2019, the Planning Inspector upheld the Egdon Appeal and awarded planning consent to 24 January 2020.
On 5 July a new planning application was submitted for the development of the Wressle oil field. The new planning application was designed to comprehensively address the key concerns which resulted in the Inspector's dismissal of our earlier planning appeals. It incorporates high levels of embedded mitigation, such as the new HDPE impermeable membrane system and was informed by information from site investigation and deeper cored boreholes drilled during 2018. This application was refused on 28 November 2018 and an appeal was submitted on 1 February 2019.
Egdon Resources plc (LSE: EDR) is an established UK-based exploration and production company focused on onshore exploration and production in the hydrocarbon-producing basins of the UK.
Egdon holds interests in 44 licences in the UK and has an active programme of exploration, appraisal and development within its portfolio of oil and gas assets. Egdon is an approved operator in the UK.
Egdon was formed in 1997 and listed on AIM in December 2004.
Qualified Person Review
In accordance with the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, this release has been reviewed by Mark Abbott, Managing Director of Egdon, who is a geoscientist with over 30 years' experience and is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain and a Fellow of the Geological Society. Mr Abbott has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.
Evaluation of hydrocarbon volumes has been assessed in accordance with 2018 Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) prepared by the Oil and Gas Reserves Committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and reviewed and jointly sponsored by the World Petroleum Council (WPC), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE), the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) and the European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (EAGE).