TIDMUKOG
RNS Number : 2771A
UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC
27 December 2017
UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC
("UKOG" or the "Company")
Operational and Technical Update
Broadford Bridge-1 & 1z Oil Discovery, Weald Basin, UK
Highlights
-- Testing of upper Kimmeridge Limestone 3 ("KL3"), KL4 and KL5
primary targets to recommence after scheduled Christmas/New Year
shutdown.
-- Basal KL3 test successfully re-run following mechanical
problems. Initial natural flow of approximately 300 barrels of
returned completion fluids per day ("bfpd") decreasing to a
continuous rate of 30-50 bfpd during well clean-up. Gas blow and
live oil traces recovered to surface. Low reservoir productivity
indicates zone likely not economically viable.
-- Further KL4 and KL5 naturally fractured reservoir and
potential oil pay identified from electric logs and core.
Additional 80 ft of perforations in KL4 and KL5 to be shot prior to
January testing resumption.
-- 38.5deg API gravity oil extracted from KL5 core demonstrates
that oil occupies around 6% of the total KL5 rock volume. Oil
recovered to surface typed to same Upper Jurassic oil family as
produced at Horse Hill
-- Core analyses demonstrate mid to basal Kimmeridge lies within
early oil generative window, confirms BB-1 lies within the
Kimmeridge continuous oil play. Prime Kimmeridge "sweet spot"
likely covers most of PEDL234 north of BB-1
-- BB-1 core demonstrates world class oil-source potential,
several Kimmeridge zones exceed 30% Total Organic Carbon ("TOC") by
weight, three times higher than equivalent section seen in Horse
Hill
-- Acquisition of two further drilling sites under negotiation
within PEDL234 Kimmeridge "sweet spot", first new planning
application in progress, expected submission in mid-spring 2018
UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (London AIM: UKOG) announces
that following the completion of test number 4 within the basal
section of KL3, operations will now shutdown over the Christmas and
New Year period at its 100% owned Broadford Bridge-1z ("BB-1z")
exploration discovery, located in licence PEDL234. Testing of the
remaining primary uppermost KL3, the KL4 and KL5 will recommence
early in the New Year. The site will remain manned and secure over
the shutdown period.
Operational Update
Test 4, over the basal 50 ft section of KL3, was successfully
completed following several mechanical and test completion
problems. Following nitrogen lifting, the well flowed naturally at
an instantaneous rate of approximately 300 bfpd declining to a
steady inflow of between 30-50 bfpd over several days. Fluids
returned over the duration of KL4 testing consisted primarily of
completion fluids together with traces of live oil, accompanied by
a gas blow during pressure build up periods. In the Company's view
this horizon, whilst containing moveable hydrocarbons, appears to
be unproductive due to low reservoir permeability.
Test 5, within the upper 100 ft of KL3, will recommence in the
New Year. Nutech's electric log analyses indicate this zone
contains around 54 ft of oil bearing limestone, similar in
thickness to the Horse Hill oil discovery, with multiple open
natural fractures seen on image logs and BB-1 core.
Dependent on remaining KL3 to KL5 results, a further naturally
fractured 40 ft limestone within the deeper KL-1 may also be
perforated and flow tested.
Petrophysical Analysis Update
Electric log analyses conducted to date by Premier Oilfield
Laboratories and Nutech have now been integrated with available
core and rock cuttings data. These data calculate a further 60 feet
of naturally fractured oil-saturated limestone reservoir exist
within KL4 plus an additional 20 feet in KL5. The KL5 zone
corresponds to where oil was recovered to surface during BB-1
coring.
Consequently, a further 80 feet of Kimmeridge Limestone
reservoir section will now be perforated prior to testing
resumption.
Geochemical Analysis Update
Analyses undertaken by Geomark Research in Houston, Texas, using
both oil produced during testing operations of the deeper KL0 to
KL2 section and oil extracted from cores, demonstrate that the
38.5deg API gravity low sulphur oil was generated from a
limestone-rich Upper Jurassic shale source-rock, probably the
Kimmeridge Clay Formation.
Flowing oil samples and oil extracted from BB-1 core also
demonstrate near identical geochemical properties to the Kimmeridge
and Portland oil produced at Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1"). It is therefore
interpreted that the BB-1 and HH-1 oils are from the same family of
oils representing a common Upper Jurassic stratigraphic origin.
The quantity of live oil extracted from the KL5 core indicates
that oil within the KL5 limestone matrix occupies over 6% of the
total KL5 rock volume. Calculated oil saturations from electric
logs within this zone exceed 50%. The equivalent KL5 reservoir zone
in BB-1z will form the basis of the forthcoming KL5 flow test.
Thermal maturity analysis of extracted organic material from the
BB-1 core demonstrates that the mid Kimmeridge section of the well
lies at or within the early oil generative window (i.e. at or
around a vitrinite reflectance equivalent, or Ro, of around 0.6).
This finding confirms that Broadford Bridge lies within the
Kimmeridge continuous oil play.
More significantly, the thermal maturity findings, representing
how far within the oil generative window BB-1 Kimmeridge sediments
have been buried, demonstrate that most of the 300 km(2) PEDL234
licence to the north of BB-1, where the Kimmeridge has been more
deeply buried, falls within the prime Kimmeridge exploration "sweet
spot" where significant volumes of hydrocarbons have likely been
generated and retained within the Kimmeridge.
Core analysis also further confirms that the Kimmeridge shales
in BB-1 contains world class oil-source potential, as several
Kimmeridge zones exceed 30% Total Organic Carbon ("TOCs") by
weight, three times higher than the equivalent section seen in
Horse Hill. The richest source potential lies within shales between
KL3 and KL4, as is the case at Horse Hill.
Future Drilling Plans
Given the significant insights gained from BB-1 into the thermal
maturity of the Kimmeridge source rocks, the Company has
accelerated its plans for further drilling in the central and
northern prime sector of PEDL234.
Planning Consultants have been engaged and are actively pursuing
the acquisition of two further drilling sites in the central sector
of the licence. An application for planning consent on the first of
these planned locations has commenced and is expected to be
submitted to the local council in mid-spring 2018, with drilling
planned for spring 2019.
Further work at the BB-1 site is under consideration to target
known intensely naturally fractured oil-bearing Kimmeridge
limestone zones. A final decision awaits results and analysis of
the remaining KL3, KL4 and KL5 tests.
Regulatory Update
While current plans envisage testing to be completed by the end
of January 2018, the Oil and Gas Authority have granted their
regulatory consent for BB-1z flow testing to extend until the end
of February 2018.
About BB-1:
As previously reported, BB-1 was purposely drilled in a location
where no conventional hydrocarbon trapping mechanism within the
Kimmeridge reservoir section is evident. Therefore, in the
Company's opinion, the presence of moveable, light Kimmeridge oil
and associated solution gas at BB-1z provides proof that the
Kimmeridge at Broadford Bridge contains a significant continuous
oil deposit of up to 1400 ft gross vertical thickness.
The near identical Kimmeridge reservoir parameters and geology
seen at BB-1 and 1z and the Horse Hill-1 Kimmeridge oil discovery,
in which the Company holds a 32.435% interest, some 27 km to the
northeast, demonstrates that the Kimmeridge oil accumulation is
also laterally extensive across the Central Weald Basin and,
consequently, a potentially significant national oil resource.
UKOG, as the largest licence holder in the Kimmeridge oil
accumulation's "sweet-spot" is well positioned to exploit this
extensive oil resource.
Corporate Update
The Company would like to update the market as to its
announcement made on 24(th) November 2017 'Loan Conversion'. This
announcement stated an incorrect number of shares issued as
13,398,137. The correct number of shares issued was 13,308,137 and
these have been allotted and admitted to trading. The Company also
advises that, further to the announcement of 18th December 2017,
16,753,225 ordinary shares were allotted at Companies House on 13th
December 2017 and as previously notified were issued on 18th
November 2017. These updates do not alter the total number of
ordinary shares in issue which is correct as per the latest
announcement of 3,630,706,545 shares.
Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Executive Chairman, commented:
"Whilst we await further test results of key importance to the
commercial success of this single well, we ought, perhaps, to take
the opportunity to reflect upon the wider Kimmeridge exploration
picture and the positive implications of BB-1 results to date.
The Kimmeridge play is still in its infancy, BB-1 being one of
only three wells targeted at the Kimmeridge in the history of the
Weald Basin. BB-1 is therefore of paramount importance to help
better understand the Weald-wide Kimmeridge play, in which the
Company holds the leading acreage position.
Although we still have many more questions than answers, the
incoming stream of new analyses from our significant investment in
BB-1 data acquisition has moved the Company's understanding of the
play to new levels. Armed with this new-found knowledge, we have
committed significant funds towards accelerating acquisition of two
further drilling sites, located in what we now understand to be the
prime "sweet spot" of the Kimmeridge oil deposit within PEDL234.
These data have also opened our eyes to the possible additional
ways to extract oil at commercial rates from BB-1 and future wells
elsewhere in the play.
We therefore look forward to the resumption of BB-1z operations,
the testing of those Kimmeridge reservoirs proven productive at
Horse Hill, and the first ever test of the KL5, already proven to
contain oil by BB-1 core. "
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: 01483 243450
WH Ireland (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
James Joyce / James Sinclair-Ford Tel: 020 7220 1666
Cenkos Securities PLC (Joint Broker)
Joe Nally / Leif Powis Tel: 0207 397 8919
Public Relations
Brian Alexander / David Bick Tel: 01483 900583/ 01483 243450
Glossary
casing heavy-gauge steel pipe that is lowered
into position in the open hole of
a well and cemented into place. Casing
is run to isolate rock formations
with different pressure gradients
from the well bore and to ensure that
any fluids within the well are isolated
from the surrounding rock and surface
groundwater zone
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Completion, the process of making a well ready
well completion, for production. This principally involves
or test completion preparing the bottom of the hole to
the required specifications, running
in the production tubing and its associated
downhole tools as well as perforating
as required, together with 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 a petroleum accumulation that is pervasive
oil deposit throughout a large area, which is
or resource not significantly affected by hydrodynamic
deposit 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
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
degree API a measure of the density of crude
oil, as defined by the American Petroleum
Institute
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
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 measurements of 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 electric
logs in BB-1z include 3-dimensional
images of the electrical resistivity
of the rock which when processed are
designed to map and characterise natural
fractures, these are known as " image
logs"
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
extended flow a flow test, or extended well test,
test or production designed to test the longer term production
test performance of a discovery with a
view to declaring commercial viability
and the establishment of permanent
production.
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
flow test a test period where hydrocarbons are
flowed to surface 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 oil at a commercial
flow rate and to recover oil in commercial
quantities or volumes
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
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,
being made of the remains of calcareous
planktonic algae called coccoliths.
The Kimmeridge Limestones are comprised
of fine grained coccoliths, fine grained
calcium carbonate mud, clay minerals,
together with dark grey organic matter
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
naturally a fractured reservoir contains open
fractured and usually connected cracks or fissures
reservoir 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
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
nitrogen lifting the injection of nitrogen into the
fluid column in an oil or gas well
to initiate fluid flow and production
from the reservoir. Due to the low
density of nitrogen, this process
reduces the back pressure (known as
"drawdown") on the reservoir
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
oil in place the quantity of oil or petroleum that
(OIP) is estimated to exist originally in
naturally occurring accumulations
before any extraction or production
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
perforating, the use of tubing (typically) to convey
perforation perforating "guns" to the required
well depth. Perforating guns are devices
used to prepare wells for production,
containing shaped explosive charges
in a range of sizes and configurations
to optimise the depth of penetration
through the steel well casing and
surrounding cement and into the adjacent
reservoir rock
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
play a set of known or postulated oil and
or gas accumulations sharing similar
geologic, geographic, and temporal
properties, such as source rock, migration
pathways, timing, trapping mechanism,
and hydrocarbon type
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
sandstone a clastic sedimentary rock whose grains
are predominantly sand-sized. The
term is commonly used to describe
a consolidated and cemented rock made
predominantly of quartz grains
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
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")
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
sidetrack re-entry of a well from the well's
surface location with drilling equipment
for deviating from the existing well
bore to achieve production or well
data from an alternative zone or bottom
hole location
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
thermal maturity a term applied to source rocks which
have received sufficient temperature
and pressure over geological time
to generate hydrocarbons
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
total organic the weight percentage of organic carbon
carbon or within the rock which is a commonly
TOC used measure of hydrocarbon source
rock richness
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
vitrinite a measure of the percentage of incident
reflectance light reflected from the surface of
(R(o) ) vitrinite particles in a sedimentary
rock. It is referred to as % R(o)
and is a measure of the thermal maturity
of a rock. Top of the oil window is
dependent on source rock type, but
is widely recognised to be at a R(o)
equivalent of between 0.5-0.7%.
-------------------- --------------------------------------------------
UKOG Licence Interests
The Company has interests in the following ten UK licences:
Asset Licence UKOG's Licence Holder Operator Area (km(2) ) Status
Interest
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
UKOG (GB) IGas Energy Field in stable
Avington (1) PEDL070 5% Limited Plc 18.3 production
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Baxters Copse PEDL233 50% UKOG Weald IGas Energy 89.6 Appraisal/development
(2) Limited Plc well planned; licence
extended to 2018
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Broadford Bridge PEDL234 100% Kimmeridge Oil Kimmeridge Oil 300.0 BB-1 & 1z drilling
(3) & Gas Limited & Gas Limited completed, testing of
(4) (4) multiple zones
underway
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Holmwood (3) PEDL143 40% UKOG Europa Oil & 91.8 Holmwood-1
Gas (Holdings) exploration well
plc planned in 2018
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
UKOG (GB) IGas Energy Field in stable
Horndean (1) PL211 10% Limited Plc 27.3 production
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Horse Hill (5) PEDL137 32.435% Horse Hill Horse Hill 99.3 Planning Permission &
Developments Developments EA permit granted for
Ltd Ltd production tests and
two wells
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Horse Hill Horse Hill
Developments Developments
Horse Hill (5) PEDL246 32.435% Ltd Ltd 43.6 As above
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Isle of Wight P1916 100% UKOG Solent UKOG Solent 46.7 Reviewing M prospect
(Offshore) (3) Limited Limited viability and well
plan
----------------
Isle of Wight
(Onshore) (2, Preparing Arreton-3
3) PEDL331 65% UKOG UKOG 200.0 planning submission
---------------- --------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------
Markwells Wood PEDL126 100% UKOG (GB) UKOG (GB) 11.2 Submitted planning
(2) Limited Limited 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 Broadford Bridge-1 and 1z discovery well and the
extension of the Godley Bridge Portland gas discovery.
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 49.9% 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.
DRLFEUFAEFWSEEE
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