Horse Hill-1 Planning application

RNS Number : 6582M

Solo Oil Plc

17 October 2016

 

For immediate release

17 October 2016

Solo Oil Plc

("Solo" or the "Company")

Planning Application

Horse Hill-1 Oil Discovery, Weald Basin, UK

Solo today announces that Horse Hill Developments Ltd ("HHDL") has informed the Company that HHDL recently submitted a planning application to Surrey County Council seeking permission to conduct further appraisal testing and drilling at the Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1") oil discovery, located in licence PEDL137, close to Gatwick Airport. The HH-1 oil discovery reported total flow rate of 1,688 barrels oil per day ("bopd") from two Kimmeridge limestones and the overlying Portland Sandstone during a short period of testing in early 2016. The Company holds a 6.5% working interest in PEDL137.

Subject to the required regulatory approvals, the first phase of the proposed development will consist of extended production testing of four zones in HH-1, designed to confirm the commerciality of the discovery, and to examine an additional previously untested Kimmeridge limestone layer. Contingent on successful testing it is planned to drill a deviated sidetrack well, designated HH-1z, from the existing HH-1 borehole, and a new well, Horse Hill-2 ("HH-2").  It is anticipated that on successful completion of drilling operations, both the HH-1z and HH-2 wells will undergo long-term production testing.

HHDL has also reported that feedback from a public consultation process, undertaken in July 2016, and subsequent meetings with local residents' representatives, has been incorporated into the development design and planning application to minimize any potential impacts on the locality. Local planning applications, such as this one not requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment, take approximately 13 weeks.

Neil Ritson, Solo's Non-executive Chairman, commented:

"This planning application is part of a multi-phase process designed to move the Horse Hill discovery into near term oil production and revenue generation.  The data collected during the planned appraisal work will also have further impact on understanding the prospectivity of the HHDL licenses and the Weald Basin more generally."

HHDL is a special purpose company, which owns a 65% working interest and operatorship of the PEDL137 and adjacent PEDL246 licence. Solo owns a 10% beneficial shareholding in HHDL, equal to a 6.5% net working interest in these licences. 

Qualified Person's Statement:

The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Neil Ritson, Chairman and Director of Solo Oil plc who has over 38 years of relevant experience in the energy sector. Mr. Ritson is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, an Active Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

For further information:

Solo Oil plc Neil Ritson Daniel Maling	[phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Roland Cornish	[phone]
Shore Capital Joint Broker Jerry Keen Beaufort Securities Joint Broker Jon Belliss Cassiopeia Services Ltd Investor and Media Relations Stefania Barbaglio	[phone] [phone] [phone]

Glossary:

discovery	a discovery is a petroleum accumulation for which one or several exploratory wells have established through testing, sampling and/or logging the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons
extended production test	a flow test, or extended well test as per the permission granted by the Oil and Gas Authority, with an aggregate flow period duration over all zones of greater than 96 hours and up to 90 days maximum
sidetrack	re-entry of a well from the well's surface location with drilling equipment for the purpose of deviating from the existing well bore to achieve production or well data from an alternative zone or bottom hole location

 

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