UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) said it has made a potential oil discovery at Horse Hill-1 although it failed to hit any further gas targets.
The Horse Hill site, in the Weald Basin, sits just 3km from the Gatwick airport, and is thought to contain up to 87 million barrels of oil and a further 164 billion cubic feet of gas.
The company said the well was successfully completed with a discovery in the Jurassic and has reached a total depth of 8,770 feet measured depth in rocks of pre-Triassic Palaeozoic age.
Chairman David Lenigas, said: “Whilst we are naturally disappointed that there was no gas discovery in the Triassic, we remain delighted that the well has made an oil discovery in the Jurassic Portland Sandstone and that further opportunities for additional oil potential have also been revealed by the well, particularly in the Kimmeridge Limestones, both in the licence block and in the wider Weald Basin, and that these are now in the process of being assessed.
“All the data from the well will now be fully analysed and a decision taken on the work necessary to appraise and develop the Portland discovery.”
The well has been electrically logged from the previous casing point to its total depth and a vertical seismic profile has been acquired.
UKOG said the logs are now being analysed along with all other relevant data from the well.
Horse Hill re-emerged as a fruitful target after a failed attempt to leverage its potential 50 years ago.
Oil giant Esso uncovered viable oil shows on the site in the 1960s but later drilled on the wrong side of the fault.
UKOG, Solo Oil, Regency Mines, Stellar Resources, Alba Mineral Resources and Doriemus PLC have since taken up the development.
Recommended for you
