The licence containing the mothballed Waddock Cross oil field in Dorset has been granted a five-year extension by the industry regulator.

The North Sea Transition Authority’s website reports that the licence, PL090, has been extended until 31 March 2029.

There has been no production from the three wells at Waddock Cross for 10 years.

But the current operator, Egdon Resources, has been talking to Dorset Council about proposals to drill two new wells and a sidetrack and produce oil for 15 years. The council has ruled that the plans would not need an Environmental Impact Assessment.

In a separate development, Egdon applied in May 2023 for planning permission to retain the existing  wells until 2033. The council required an ecological survey and agreed an extension of time to consider the application until 12 April 2024.

So far, there has been no new application or news about the site retention plans.

But a partner in the licence, United Oil & Gas plc, said this week that Egdon Resources was “progressing plans for redeveloping Waddock Cross”. This included planning and permit applications, the company said.

United also reported that the estimated stock tank oil initially in place at Waddock Cross amounted to 57 million barrels of oil (mmbls) and the field could produce 500-800 barrels of oil per day.

Egdon, now owned by the US-based Heyco Energy Group, has made no comment on the licence extension or planning proposals for Waddock Cross.

Records show PL090 was granted in 1968.

The first Waddock Cross well, WX-1, was drilled in 1982 by the Gas Council.  Other wells, WX-2 and WX-3, were drilled in 2003-4 and 2005.

The field began formal production in 2014 but was shut-in within months because of the high proportion of water produced along with the oil.

United’s chief executive, Brian Larkin, said in a statement yesterday (2 April 2024):

“We are delighted to announce that the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has signed a Deed of Variation extending the term of Licence PL090, which contains the Waddock Cross oil field, for another 5 years through to 31 March 2029. This is a significant milestone for us, and we are excited about the low risk, high margin redevelopment opportunity it presents.

“We believe that a new horizontal well at Waddock Cross could yield commercial oil production of 500-800 barrels per day (gross) and approximately 1 million barrels (gross) recovery. We are looking forward to working with the Operator as plans to restart production at Waddock Cross are actively progressed.”

DrillOrDrop has closed the comments section on this and future articles. We are doing this because of the risk of liability for copyright infringement in comments. We still want to hear about your reaction to DrillOrDrop articles. You can contact us by clicking here.