Horse Hill oil site near Gatwick Airport, October 2018. Photo: Used with the owner’s consent
UK Oil & Gas plc has announced that production has resumed from the Portland oil formation at Horse Hill in Surrey.
The company, which is the largest investor in the project, said today the Portland flow rate was between 208 and 218 barrels per day (bopd). This is lower than previous reports which calculated an optimised sustainable rate of 362 bopd.
In a statement to shareholders, UKOG said the current flow was being maintained below this rate for “prudent reservoir management purposes”.
It said the resumption of oil flow after a six-month shut-in formed:
“a key part of the schedule of works required to finalise the Portland field development plan and to the targeted establishment of permanent long-term Portland production, planned by end 2019.”
In October 2018, UKOG declared the Portland oil field to be “commercially viable”.
The site, near Gatwick Airport, has planning permission and environmental consents to drill two new horizontal wells at Horse Hill. One of these, to be called HH-2, will target the Portland and is due to be drilled in spring 2019, the company said.
UKOG said the ongoing flow tests on the original well, HH-1, would continue until the completion of the HH-2 well. Portland test production would then switch to HH-2, today’s statement said.
Additional horizontal wells at Horse Hill, which are currently going through the planning system, were designed to further boost Portland production and put UKOG in the top three onshore producers, the company added.
UKOG said the section of the HH-1 well targeting Kimmeridge oil had also been shut-in to conduct a long-term pressure build up test. Kimmeridge test production would follow drilling of HH-2.
UKOG’s chief executive, Stephen Sanderson, said:
“We remain on course to commence the first two horizontals in Spring, with long term production testing of both wells planned to follow directly afterwards. The flow test results to date, combined with the prospect of further near term drilling, place Horse Hill in a strong position to deliver positive “free” cash flow to UKOG in the near and foreseeable future.”
A public consultation on plans for four more oil wells and a water reinjection well at Horse Hill ended last week.
Online comments on the application on the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council website totalled 552 at the time of writing: 316 in support and 235 against.
24-hour production at Lidsey
West Sussex County Council has approved plans by Angus Energy for round-the-clock oil production at its Lidsey site, near Bognor Regis.
An application to vary the production hours was granted on 15 February 2019 by planning officers acting under delegated powers.
A condition of the consent restricts other operations at the site and deliveries to 7.30am-6pm on weekdays and Saturdays, except for emergencies.
Categories: Industry
DRILL OR DROP? 
“The company, which is the largest investor in the project, said today the Portland flow rate was between 208 and 218 barrels per day (bopd). This is lower than previous reports which calculated an optimised sustainable rate of 362 bopd.
In a statement to shareholders, UKOG said the current flow was being maintained below this rate for “prudent reservoir management purposes”.
Hmmm…..Prudent reservoir management purposes? No worries about changing the pressure enough to cause further earthquakes then?
No, Ann. No worries as the experts have already said there was no connection to previous tremors.
This is all about testing. This is a test well. The horizontal wells to follow shortly will give a much better indication of sustained output.
Maybe UKOG want to minimise traffic flows from oil export to Hamble whilst they are starting the horizontal drilling? Maybe the horizontals will produce the oil at lower cost than this vertical test well? (Etc., etc.)
Between the antis, and some investors, there seems to be at least one common factor-a strange concentration upon output from something that is being tested.
Nice to see the supporters have been active regarding the current application.
There’s only one kind of supporter , the ones who want to try to get rich quick , says it all really , greedy people with no sense.
Are these the O&G funded experts ? Of course they wouldn’t tell lies to keep their funding would they ? Meanwhile another drop in SP for the mug punters to moan about , whoever bought at the 8.04 p in Sept 2017 must be very happy with the current 1.45p today .
No, Jono. There are those of us who use oil products and wish them to come from the source that gives best security, minimises environmental issues and is of benefit to the rest of the UK population. It is possible to support all sorts of things without any financial motive. Mind you, the antis could all be bots for wind turbine manufacturers!
And of course, we are so empathetic to those who moan about the use of oil or gas and type away on their plastic keyboards, drive their 3 litre diesels and arrive in vast numbers at Gatwick to take their kiddies away for half term.
Mug punters is a term coined by fund managers to try and show others have no knowledge and sense. Recent analyses shows that is incorrect. You are in good company, Jono. But then, looking at the way you judge happiness amongst investors on AIM, your analyses is somewhat flawed.
BGS funded by oil and gas? Don’t think so but I would be a bit concerned if they didn’t work with them, and other industries.
UKOG said the section of the HH-1 well targeting Kimmeridge oil had also been shut-in to conduct a long-term pressure build up test.
just out of genuine interest, how long is this test likely to be for? Months? Years?
The length of time required to obtain the reservoir pressure depends on how big the connected fluid reservoir is, the length of time originally flowed, the amount of depletion, the permeability, the amount of primary (radial flow) and or secondary porosity (fracture flow). Assuming it is tight and a mix of radial and fracture flow then the build up period will be fairly long.
They probably need the rig to switch from Portland to Kimmeridge so this is why they are waiting to finish HH-2. This will be plenty of time to complete the PBU survey on the HH-1 Kimmeridge.
Interesting that all the supporting comments on the Reigate & Banstead Council Planning application, are from people living up to hundreds of miles away from the Horse Hill site (all on the 17th and 18th of February??), and the objections are from more local residents, who will be badly affected by drilling activity. I recently experienced an earthquake in Horley and it isn’t pleasant. I’ve lived here 23 years and never experienced an earthquake before. Rather frightening. If this continues, property values in the area could plummet and houses become impossible to sell.