BOUTIQUE upstream venture capital fund Epi-V is moving into hydrocarbons exploration and production after committing to invest £10million to appraise two existing onshore gas discoveries in northern England.
Epi-V has taken a significant stake in Moorland Energy, a vehicle created last year to acquire licences to extract hydrocarbons from surveyed and partially delineated discoveries.
The £10million investment will finance appraisal drilling on two exploration licences that Moorland has acquired from Warwick Energy.
In addition, the firm has acquired 10MW of power-generation capability from Warwick.
The first licence contains an extension to the Wykeham gas field in north Yorkshire.
The second licence contains a producing field at Elswick, in Lancashire, a prospect interpreted to have 11million barrels of recoverable oil and coal-bed methane potential.