UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (UKOG) has been informed by Horse Hill Developments Limited (HHDL) the operator of Horse Hill Licences PEDL 137 and PEDL 246, containing the Horse Hill-1 (HH-1) oil discovery, that the Environment Agency has granted the necessary permits to enable HHDL to carry out extended flow tests at HH-1, store any produced oil, drill and test both a side-track from the existing HH-1 well and new borehole HH-2. The Company has a 32.435% interest in the Licences.
As previously reported, an application for long term production testing and further appraisal drilling was submitted to Surrey County Council in October 2016 and is now confirmed to be decided at the Council's planning committee meeting on October 18th, 2017. Members of the planning committee completed a scheduled visit to the Horse Hill site yesterday, 7 September, in preparation for the October meeting.
The Company therefore envisages that these operations will commence in the fourth quarter of 2017 upon grant of the necessary remaining regulatory permissions.
HH-1 Oil Discovery (UKOG interest 32.435%)
The HH-1 Kimmeridge Limestone and Portland oil discovery well is located within onshore exploration Licence PEDL137, on the northern side of the Weald Basin, 3 km north of Gatwick Airport. As previously reported in February and March 2016, two naturally-fractured limestone members within the Kimmeridge section, known as KL3 and KL4, flowed dry, 40-degree API oil, at an aggregate stabilised natural flow rate of 1,365 barrels per day (bopd) with no clear indication of depletion.
The overlying Portland flowed dry, 35-degree API gravity oil at a stable pumped rate of 323 bopd. The Portland oil was produced at the rod-pump's maximum achievable rate and thus flow was constrained by the pump's mechanical capacity.
Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Executive Chairman, commented:
"We look forward to a successful planning outcome and the resumption of operations at Horse Hill."
