Upgrade to Portland OIP, Horse Hill-1 Discovery

RNS Number : 5318E

Solo Oil Plc

19 July 2016

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 7:00 am                                                                                                  19 July 2016

SOLO OIL PLC

("Solo" or the "Company")

Upgrade to Portland Oil in Place, Horse Hill-1 Discovery, Weald Basin 

Solo today notes the contents of an announcement by UK Oil and Gas Investments plc ("UKOG") that a new petrophysical analysis by Nutech, incorporating the findings of the successful Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1") flow tests, has significantly upgraded the previously calculated total oil in place ("OIP") per square mile within the Upper Portland pay zone at the HH-1 well, from 7.7 million barrels ("mmbbls") per square mile to 22.9 mmbbls per square mile, an increase of 200%. As previously announced the final Horse Hill 1 ('HH-1') Portland test flowed at a stable dry oil rate of 323 barrels of oil per day ('bopd').

Nutech's report notes that the production of dry oil from the Portland Sandstone, with little or no observed water production, required a reassessment of the pre-flow test petrophysical model.  Prior to the flow test, interpretations suggested that water would likely be produced along with oil, as is seen in Portland reservoirs in nearby producing oil fields. The revised model fully incorporates the well test observations and measurements.

The HH-1 well is located within onshore exploration licence PEDL137, on the northern side of the Weald Basin near Gatwick Airport. PEDL246 lies adjacent to and immediately to the east of PEDL137. Solo owns a 6.5% interest in the Licences which are operated by Horse Hill Developments Ltd ("Operator").       

The Operator has also informed the Company that the flow test data analysis undertaken by Nutech and Xodus provides the necessary technical encouragement to engage Barton Willmore Ltd, one of the UK's leading planning and environmental assessment practitioners, to prepare and submit a planning application to Surrey County Council ("SCC"), and to assist with obtaining necessary permissions from the Environment Agency ("EA"), for an appraisal programme at Horse Hill.

The applications will seek permission to conduct a programme consisting of the production flow testing of three Kimmeridge Limestone zones plus the overlying Portland over a total flow period of up to 360 days, plus two further appraisal/development wells and 3D seismic.

A public consultation and engagement process related to the planning application will take place shortly, leading to an application to SCC and the EA by early fourth quarter 2016.

Engineering studies to examine the range of possible flow rates from a planned horizontal side track well are ongoing. Data to further calibrate these studies will be acquired during the further planned extended flow tests.

Neil Ritson, Solo's Chairman commented:

"Significant progress is being made at Horse Hill building on the results of the very successful flow tests earlier in the year.  Solo is pleased that the estimated oil in place has been increased and that the Horse Hill group is proceeding with the next phase of the appraisal of this important discovery."

As previously stated by the Company, the calculated OIP per square mile should not be construed as either contingent resources or reserves.

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 Fergus Jenkins	[phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Roland Cornish	[phone]
Shore Capital Joint Broker Pascal Keane Jerry Keen (Corporate Broker) Bell Pottinger                            Public Relations Henry Lerwill Cassiopeia Services LLP Investor 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
contingent resources	contingent resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations, but the applied project(s) are not yet considered mature enough for commercial development due to one or more contingencies. Contingent resources may include, for example, projects for which there are currently no viable markets, or where commercial recovery is dependent on technology under development, or where evaluation of the accumulation is insufficient to clearly assess commerciality. Contingent Resources are further categorized in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the estimates and may be sub-classified based on project maturity and/or characterized by their economic status
flow test	a flow test or well test involves testing a well by flowing hydrocarbons to the 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
oil field	an accumulation, pool or group of pools of oil in the subsurface. An oil field consists of a reservoir in a shape that will trap hydrocarbons and that is covered by an impermeable or sealing rock
oil in place	the quantity of oil or petroleum that is estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring accumulations before any extraction or production
petrophysics	the study of physical and chemical rock properties and their interactions with fluids utilising electric logs, physical rock and fluid measurements
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 categorized in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the estimates and may be sub-classified based on project maturity and/or characterised by development and production status

 

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