Award of Two Blocks in the UK North Sea

RNS Number : 6254Y

United Oil & Gas PLC

23 August 2018

 

United Oil & Gas PLC / Index: LSE / Epic: UOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

23 August 2018

United Oil & Gas PLC ('United' or 'the Company') 

Confirmation of Award of Two Blocks Including an Oil Discovery in the UK North Sea

Highlights:

·     Award of Blocks 15/18d and 15/19b in the North Sea which includes the Crown Oil Discovery, with estimates of up to 16 million barrels of recoverable oil

·     Discussions with potential farm-in partners can now commence, with interest already received highlighting the quality of the asset

·     Significant growing interest in the North Sea as an attractive low-cost hydrocarbon jurisdiction - licence highlights the team's ability to identify and acquire projects in attractive jurisdictions

·     United's portfolio already includes commercial discoveries, appraisal projects and high-impact exploration

·     Multiple value-adding events occurring in the next few months including appraisal drilling of UK near shore Colter Discovery  

United Oil & Gas Plc, the London Stock Exchange listed oil and gas exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that further to the announcement of 24 May 2018, it has accepted the formal offer from the Oil and Gas Authority, the UK oil and gas regulator, confirming the award of Blocks 15/18d and 15/19b (Licence P2366), with the licence term beginning 1 October 2018.  The two highly prospective blocks in the Central North Sea cover an area of c. 13.6 sq km and are close to the substantial Piper, MacCulloch and Dumbarton/Donan oil fields and include the Palaeocene Crown Oil Discovery which could contain up to 16 million barrels of recoverable oil.

United's internal estimates suggest a range in recoverable volumes of 4-16mmbbls oil, with mid-case estimates of ~9mmbbls for the Crown Oil Discovery, which was made by ConocoPhillips in 1998 in well 15/19-9. The potential of the licence is underlined by the interest already received from prospective farm-in partners, and the Company will consider all options available in order to progress the work programme as rapidly as possible. The Directors believe this interest reflects not only the quality of Blocks 15/18d and 15/19b but also the uptick in activity and interest in the Central North Sea. 

United Oil & Gas PLC CEO, Brian Larkin, said, "A number of factors including the existing multi-million barrel oil discovery, multiple leads and targets, an excellent location close to substantial oil fields, and the attractive cost profile of exploration and production in the North Sea all culminate to position these licences as compelling investment opportunities.  Confirmation of the award enables us to pursue farm-out discussions with potential partners with whom we can work to take these licences forward." 

"Blocks 15/18d and 15/19b are the latest additions to our portfolio of late stage appraisal/development projects in Europe and high-impact exploration plays in Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.  All our licences have defined paths to near-term value driving activity such as drilling and production, offering multiple re-rating opportunities.  With drilling operations at the UK near shore Colter Discovery, which lies in the same play as the prolific Wytch Farm field, due to commence in Q4 2018, investors will not have to wait long for the next potential value trigger event.  Together with results of processing work to de-risk the Colibri target on the Tullow Oil-operated Walton-Morant licence offshore Jamaica, which has been estimated to hold gross mean-case prospective resources of over 200mmbbls, and the ongoing permitting process to bring our onshore Italy gas discovery into production, the next few months promise to be an exciting period for United."

**ENDS**

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

For more information please visit the Company's website at www.uogplc.com or contact: 

United Oil & Gas Plc (Company)
Brian Larkin	[e-mail]
Optiva Securities Limited (Broker)
Christian Dennis	[phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Financial Adviser)
Roland Cornish and Felicity Geidt	[phone]
Murray (PR Advisor)	[phone]
Joe Heron	[e-mail]
St Brides Partners (Financial PR/IR)
Frank Buhagiar and Juliet Earl	[phone]

Notes to Editors

United Oil & Gas plc (UOG) is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. United was established to explore, appraise and develop low risk assets in Europe and to develop higher risk, higher impact exploration projects in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

The following table outlines the Company's licence interests:

Country	Licence	Operator	United Interest
Italy	Podere Gallina Licence	Po Valley Energy Limited	20%
United Kingdom	Waddock Cross Field	Egdon Resources UK Limited	26.25%
United Kingdom	PL090 Exploration	Egdon Resources UK Limited	18.95%
United Kingdom	P1918	Corallian Energy Limited	10%
United Kingdom	PEDL 330	Corallian Energy Limited	10%
United Kingdom	PEDL 345	Corallian Energy Limited	10%
United Kingdom	P2366	United Oil & Gas Plc	95%
Jamaica	Walton-Morant	Tullow Jamaica Ltd	20%

 

END

 

 

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