Horse Hill Granted Long-term Production Consent

UK Oil & Gas PLC

("UKOG" or the "Company")

 

Horse Hill Oil Field Granted Long-term Production Consent by Surrey County Council

 

UK Oil & Gas PLC (London AIM: UKOG) is pleased to announce that, earlier today, Surrey County Council's ("SCC") Planning and Regulatory Committee granted full planning consent for long-term oil production at the Company's flagship Horse Hill oil field near Gatwick Airport. Following yesterday's acquisition of Tellurian's 35% stake in Horse Hill, the Company now holds a significant and controlling 85.635% interest in the field and the highly prospective surrounding PEDL137 and PEDL246 licences. The field is operated by the Company's subsidiary, Horse Hill Developments Ltd (HHDL), in which it holds a 77.9% controlling interest.

 

Planning Consent Summary

 

The planning consent gives permission to produce oil over a period of 25 years at up to 3,500 barrels of oil per day from a total of six wells within the Portland and Kimmeridge oil pools, including the existing Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1") and the forthcoming HH-2/2z horizontal well. Consent also includes permission to drill one water reinjection well to help maximise oil recovery. All existing and future wells will be drilled from within the existing 20 x 15 metre concrete pad. No further drilling sites beyond Horse Hill are required.

 

What Does the Consent Mean to UKOG and Horse Hill?

 

Critically, this consent means that the field's immediate oil production from HH-1 and HH-2/2z will no longer be limited to existing extended well test planning consents. The ability to produce over the field's economic lifespan also enables the transfer of current and future assigned recoverable resource volumes into the category of Reserves, which, by definition, conveys with more certainty that a known volume of petroleum can be produced commercially over a given time.

 

The commercial certainty associated with the allocation of Reserves at Horse Hill is therefore a critical step necessary to help facilitate the potential use of debt-based funding for field development and other Company working capital requirements. It is planned to commission a new Competent Persons Report to establish the Company's net Reserves following completion of HH-2z production testing in the Autumn.

 

The permission also enables the Company to finalise its Field Development Plan and submit it to the Oil and Gas Authority ("OGA") for the necessary regulatory and technical consent. Meetings in this respect have been scheduled with OGA in the coming weeks.

 

The field's environmental permit application, covering the four new wells and production activities, was submitted to the Environment Agency ("EA") in January and is under review. Drilling of the four new production and reinjection wells will require the usual drilling regulatory consents from the HSE and OGA. 

 

Forward Operational Plans at Horse Hill

 

The first new horizontal production well, Horse Hill-2/2z ("HH-2/2z"), designed to produce at rates potentially of up to 2-3 times the rate of the vertical HH-1 well, is scheduled to start drilling before the end of this month, with a further new Portland production well and Portland water reinjection well planned to follow upon completion of production testing in early 2020. During HH-2/2z drilling, the Kimmeridge oil pool will continue to be production tested to provide further key technical data and associated sales revenues to partially offset drilling and testing costs. Planning approval also exists to sidetrack the HH-1 well horizontally into either the Kimmeridge or Portland oil pools.

 

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Chief Executive, commented:

 

"This landmark milestone, perhaps the most significant event at Horse Hill since the HH-1 oil discovery, paves the way for the Company to realise the full value of future long-term production from the Horse Hill oil field, our flagship asset. It is also a key enabler that will help us achieve our goal of long-term oil production and related cash flow by year end.

 

The decision's timing fits hand in glove with yesterday's completion of the acquisition of Tellurian's 35% interest in Horse Hill. It fully justifies the price paid to boost our share of oil sales revenues, net Reserves and recoverable resources by over 69%.

 

Now that we are firmly in control of the forward Horse Hill drilling programme and development schedule, the Company is well placed to deliver its stated goals. We look forward to maintaining the considerable forward momentum of the past weeks during the forthcoming simultaneous drilling and production testing campaign."

 

Qualified Person's Statement

 

Matt Cartwright, UKOG's Commercial Director, who has over 35 years of relevant experience in the global oil industry, has approved the information contained in this announcement. Mr Cartwright is a Chartered Engineer and member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

UK Oil & Gas PLC

Stephen Sanderson / Kiran Morzaria                                                      Tel: 01483 900582

 

WH Ireland Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

James Joyce / James Sinclair-Ford                                                           Tel: 020 7220 1666

 

Cenkos Securities PLC (Joint Broker)

Joe Nally / Neil McDonald                                                                         Tel: 0207 397 8919

 

Novum Securities (Joint Broker)                                                                                                              

John Bellis                                                                                                     Tel: 020 7399 9400

 

Public Relations

Brian Alexander                                                                                           Tel: 01483 900582

 

Glossary

 

 

flow test	or well or production test involves testing a well by flowing hydrocarbons to surface, typically through a test separator; key measured parameters are oil and gas flow rates, downhole pressure and surface pressure. The overall objective is to identify the well's capacity to produce hydrocarbons at a commercial flow rate and to assess the volume of oil in the ground accessed by the well
horizontal well	a well that during drilling is steered so as to follow and remain within a particular geological stratum or reservoir unit having a trajectory that runs  approximately parallel to the top and or base of the target horizon
oil field	an accumulation, pool or group of pools of oil in the subsurface that produces oil to surface
Probable Reserves	or 2P, denotes the best estimate scenario of Reserves
Proven Reserves	or 1P, denotes the low estimate scenario of Reserves
recovery factor	the recoverable volume of oil expressed as a percentage of the oil in place or in the ground before extraction
recoverable resources/volumes	those quantities of petroleum (i.e. oil or gas) estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable to surface from known accumulations
Reserves	those quantities of petroleum anticipated to be commercially recoverable by application of development projects to known accumulations from a given date forward under defined conditions.  Reserves must further satisfy four criteria: they must be discovered, recoverable, commercial, and remaining (as of the evaluation date) based on the development project(s) applied. Reserves are further categorised in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the estimates (i.e. Proven, Probable and Possible) and may be sub-classified based on project maturity and/or characterised by development and production status

 

 

UKOG Licence Interests

 

The Company has interests in the following UK licences:

 

Asset	Licence	UKOG Interest	Licence Holder	Operator	Area (km2)	Status
Avington 1	PEDL070	5%	UKOG (GB) Limited	IGas Energy Plc	18.3	Field currently temporarily shut in
Broadford Bridge/Loxley/Godley Bridge 2, 3, 8	PEDL234	100%	UKOG (234) Ltd 4	UKOG (234) Ltd 4	300.0	BB-1/1z oil discovery, Loxley-1 gas appraisal well planning application submitted
A24 3	PEDL143	67.5%	UKOG	UKOG 7	91.8	Finalising new site selection to drill Portland and Kimmeridge prospects
Horndean 1	PL211	10%	UKOG (GB) Limited	IGas Energy Plc	27.3	Field in stable production
Horse Hill 5	PEDL137	85.635%	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	99.3	Production tests ongoing, two further appraisal wells scheduled for 2019
Horse Hill 5	PEDL246	85.635%	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	43.6	As above
Isle of Wight (Onshore) 2, 3	PEDL331	95%	UKOG	UKOG	200.0	Preparing planning submission for Arreton-3 oil appraisal well and Arreton South exploration well
Markwells Wood	PEDL126	100%	UKOG (GB) Limited	UKOG (GB) Limited	11.2	MW-1 P&A

               

Notes:

 

1.  Oil field currently in stable production.

2.  Oil discovery pending development and/or appraisal drilling.

3.  Exploration asset with drillable prospects and leads.

4.  Contains the Broadford Bridge-1/1z Kimmeridge oil discovery, the eastern extension of the Godley Bridge Portland gas discovery plus further undrilled Kimmeridge exploration prospects.

5.  Oil field with three productive and commercially viable zones, EWT ongoing, further drilling campaign scheduled and development underway.

6.  UKOG has a direct 77.9% interest in HHDL, which has a 65% interest in PEDL137 and PEDL246.

7.  OGA consent received for the transfer of operatorship from Europa to UKOG

8.  Gas discovery pending appraisal drilling and development with underlying Kimmeridge potential

 

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.