Operational Update and Warrant Exercise

RNS Number : 6585M

UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC

31 July 2017

 

UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC

("UKOG" or the "Company")

Operational Update and Warrant Exercise

All Approvals for a Rig-less Flow Test in Place,

Broadford Bridge-1 Exploration Well, Weald Basin, UK

Highlights

·      All flow test regulatory permissions now in place following review by the Health and Safety Executive ("HSE"). Work continues to "complete" the well as a potential oil producer to be followed by a rig-less flow-test, encompassing multiple Kimmeridge zones over a total aggregate perforated section of 926 ft.

·      Preliminary log interpretations indicate that the extensively naturally-fractured Kimmeridge section is oil bearing from around 3,800 ft to below 5,640 ft measured depth ("MD") a vertical section of around 1,330 ft. This observation is in accord with the mobile light oil recovered to surface in cores and recovered from drilling fluid, together with wet gas shows.

·      An application to extend the exploration/testing phase for a further year to 15 September 2018 has been submitted to West Sussex County Council ("WSCC") with a decision expected in September 2017.

UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (London AIM and ISDX: UKOG) announces that as the HSE have consented to the revised and expanded flow test programme, all necessary regulatory permits are now in place to commence flow testing at its 100% owned Broadford Bridge-1 ("BB-1") exploration well located in licence PEDL234. Operations at site continue to prepare and complete BB-1 as a potential oil producing well from multiple zones over a gross perforated interval of 926 feet. Flow testing will commence after the rig has vacated the site.

Specialists at Premier Oilfield Laboratories ("POL") and Nutech, both located in Houston, USA, have examined electric logs from BB-1 and their preliminary evaluations calculate that the Kimmeridge is  oil bearing from around 3,800 ft  to below 5,640 ft MD. These results accord with core data, drilling data and observed oil and wet gas shows. They extend the gross possible vertical thickness of the Kimmeridge Continuous Oil Deposit to around 1,330 ft. Final log evaluation results integrating core and rock cutting measurement and fluid data will be reported in due course.

The flow test programme is specifically designed to gather further supportive evidence that the Kimmeridge contains a continuous oil deposit, with mobile light oil and which can flow to surface at commercial rates and in commercial volumes.

The Company has submitted an application to WSCC to extend the current BB-1 exploration and testing phase planning permission for a further year. The extension will enable a fully comprehensive extended flow test programme to be conducted. A decision from the WSCC Planning Committee is expected in September 2017.

About BB-1

BB-1, an exploration step-out, is located south of Billingshurst, West Sussex, within the 300 km² PEDL234 licence, in which the Company has a 100% interest via its ownership of the licence's operator, Kimmeridge Oil & Gas Limited ("KOGL").

As previously reported, in the Company's opinion, the multiple positive indications of mobile light oil observed throughout the entire naturally fractured Kimmeridge Limestone 0 ("KL0") to KL4 and shale target section are supportive that a significant continuous oil deposit, with a vertical extent of around 1,330 ft has been demonstrated at BB-1. The uppermost two units of this zone, KL4 and KL3, flowed oil at a stable aggregate rate of 1,365 barrels per day in the Horse Hill-1 discovery near Gatwick Airport in 2016.

This continuous oil deposit therefore likely underlies the entire PEDL234 licence and a significant area of the wider Weald Basin, including the Horse Hill-1 Kimmeridge oil discovery some 27 km to the north east. The Company has the largest licence holding in the Weald Basin and within the prospective area of the Kimmeridge play.

Other Business

The Company notes that SCDM Energy, the French owned oil and gas exploration and production company, has increased its holding in the Company to 174,954,179 ordinary voting shares, representing 5.03% of the issued share capital as of 25^th July 2017.

The Company has also received notice of the exercise of warrants to subscribe for a total of 40,625,000 new ordinary shares in the Company (the "New Ordinary Shares"). The Company has received £325,000 in respect of this exercise. Application has been made for these New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is anticipated that trading in such shares will commence on or around 4 August 2017.

Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise 3,520,759,100 ordinary shares. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. This figure of 3,520,759,100 ordinary shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Executive Chairman, commented:

" Whilst the delivery and completion of the well as a potential oil-producer is not as swift a process as a simple rig-based drill stem test (or DST), this configuration is designed to provide significant future cost and potential test performance benefits. This is a sound investment in the future of BB-1 and is a key necessary step to help us achieve our corporate goal to establish first Kimmeridge production by the end of 2018/early 2019. Operations at BB-1 remain on track."

Qualified Person's Statement

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Executive Chairman, who has over 35 years of relevant experience in the oil industry, has approved the information contained in this announcement. Mr Sanderson is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and is an active member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

For further information, please contact:

UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC

Stephen Sanderson / Kiran Morzaria                                     Tel: [phone] 

WH Ireland (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

James Joyce / James Bavister                                                   Tel: [phone]

Cenkos Securities PLC (Joint Broker)

Nick Tulloch / Neil McDonald                                                   Tel: [phone]

Square 1 Consulting (Public Relations)

Brian Alexander / David Bick                                                    Tel: [phone]

 Glossary:

casing	heavy gauge steel tubing designed to line the wall of a well. The casing provides a safe controlled space in which the drill pipe and bit can operate in isolation from conditions in overlying rock units. The steel tubing is bonded to the surrounding rock by impermeable concrete, known as "cement"
core or coring	a drilling technique that involves using a doughnut-shaped drilling bit to capture or "cut" a continuous cylinder-shaped core of undamaged in-situ rock. The core is captured in a steel pipe or "core barrel" above the bit. Core is normally cut in 30 feet lengths, or multiples of 30 feet, and normally with a diameter of 3.5 or 4 inches. Core is taken in petroleum reservoir rocks for detailed laboratory analyses of petrophysical and geomechanical parameters
completion or well completion	the process of making a well ready for production. This principally involves preparing the bottom of the hole to the required specifications, running in the production tubing and its associated down hole tools as well as perforating as required, together with the selection of the appropriate completion fluid contained in the well. The process of running in and cementing the casing can also be included in this category.
continuous oil deposit or resource deposit	a petroleum accumulation that is pervasive throughout a large area, which is not significantly affected by hydrodynamic influences (i.e. the buoyancy of oil in water) and is not trapped by structural or stratigraphic geological conditions. The deposit, in contrast to conventional accumulations, has therefore not accumulated by the migration of petroleum over medium to long distances. The petroleum in such deposits is found within, or immediately adjacent or close to, the pore spaces where the petroleum is generated, i.e. those pore spaces lying within petroleum source rocks containing organic rich compounds (kerogen) that, when heated over geological time, transform into petroleum. These accumulations are generally associated with organic-rich shales such as the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Such accumulations do not generally contain significant volumes of free, mobile formation water and therefore have no observable hydrocarbon-water contacts. The extent of the accumulation is generally defined by the limit of where burial depths have been sufficient to transform organic matter within the petroleum source rock unit into petroleum.
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
electric logs	Tools which measure the electrical properties of the rock and fluids in and surrounding the wellbore to determine the petrophysical and geological properties of the rock in its in-situ state. The logging equipment is lowered into the borehole on a steel cable through which a wire conveys data to be recorded at surface. The logging at BB-1 also includes tools which record 3-dimensional images and ultrasound scans of the rock designed to map and characterise natural fractures, know as " image logs"
limestone	a sedimentary rock predominantly composed of calcite (a crystalline mineral form of calcium carbonate) of organic, chemical or detrital origin. Minor amounts of dolomite, chert and clay are common in limestones. Chalk is a form of fine-grained limestone
lost circulation zone (LCZ)	a zone of highly porous and permeable rock or voids directly intersecting the wellbore into which drilling fluid can escape. Commonly LCZs occur in extensive open fracture networks, voids or vugs within limestones and highly porous and permeable sandstones
naturally fractured reservoir	a fractured reservoir contains open and usually connected cracks or fissures within the rock matrix; fractures can enhance permeability of rocks greatly by connecting pore-spaces together; naturally fractured reservoirs have been created over geological time by nature, not man-made via hydraulic fracturing
shale	a fissile rock that is formed by the consolidation of clay, mud, or silt particles, and that has a finely stratified or laminated structure. Certain shales, such as those of the Kimmeridge Clay, often contain a significant proportion of organic material, which when subject to increasing temperature and pressure over geological time transform into petroleum (known as petroleum "source rocks")
step-out well	a well specifically designed to determine the lateral extent of a discovered hydrocarbon accumulation or play
wet gas	natural gas, predominantly consisting of methane (C1), ethane (C2) and propane (C3) but also containing the longer molecular chain natural gases butane and iso-butane (C4), pentane and iso-pentane (C5). The C4 and C5 gases are created during oil-generation within a petroleum source rock unit when oil is thermally cracked. At Horse Hill these natural gases lie in solution within the oil in the KL3 and KL4 Kimmeridge Limestone reservoirs (i.e. solution or associated gas and not as a separate free-gas phase).

UKOG Licence Interests

The Company has interests in the following ten UK licences:

Asset	Licence	UKOG's Interest	Licence Holder	Operator	Area (km2)	Status
Avington 1	PEDL070	5%	UKOG (GB) Limited	IGas Energy Plc	18.3	Field in stable production
Baxters Copse 2	PEDL233	50%	UKOG Weald Limited	IGas Energy Plc	89.6	Appraisal/development well planned; licence extended to 2018
Broadford Bridge 3	PEDL234	100%	Kimmeridge Oil & Gas Limited 4	Kimmeridge Oil & Gas Limited 4	300.0	BB-1 drilling underway
Holmwood 3	PEDL143	30%	UKOG	Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc	91.8	Holmwood-1 exploration well planned in 2017
Horndean 1	PL211	10%	UKOG (GB) Limited	IGas Energy Plc	27.3	Field in stable production
Horse Hill 5	PEDL137	32.435%	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	99.3	Submitted planning application for long term production tests and drilling of two wells
Horse Hill 5	PEDL246	32.435%	Horse Hill Developments Ltd⁶	Horse Hill Developments Ltd ⁶	43.6	As above
Isle of Wight (Offshore) 3	P1916	100%	UKOG Solent Limited	UKOG Solent Limited	46.7	Preparing drilling planning submission
Isle of Wight (Onshore) 2, 3	PEDL331	65%	UKOG	TBA	200.0	Preparing drilling planning submission
Markwells Wood 2	PEDL126	100%	UKOG (GB) Limited	UKOG (GB) Limited	11.2	Submitted planning application for appraisal and field development

Notes:

1. Oil field currently in production.

2. Oil discovery pending development and/or appraisal drilling.

3. Exploration asset with drillable prospects and leads. Contains the extension of the Godley Bridge Portland gas discovery and the site of the forthcoming Broadford Bridge-1 well.

4. UKOG has a 100% interest in Kimmeridge Oil & Gas Limited, which has a 100% interest in PEDL234.

5. Oil discovery with recently completed flow testing.

6. UKOG has a direct 48% interest in HHDL, which has a 65% interest in PEDL137 and PEDL246.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

 

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