Oil discovery in southen England possibly 'world class'

A British exploration firm said it found a "world-class potential resource" which could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil beneath the southern region of England, according to the BBC on Thursday.

UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG), a company listed on the London stock exchange, said the oilfield was found at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport, and it could be the biggest underground oil discovery in Britain since the 1980s.

"We think we've had a very significant discovery here, probably the largest (onshore in the UK) in the last 30 years, and we think it has national significance," Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's chief executive told the BBC.

A report commissioned by the company estimated the local area could hold 98 million barrels of oils per square kilometer, much more than originally thought.

Sanderson said the find would "comprehensively change the understanding of the area's potential oil resources."

UKOG said the majority of the oil lies within the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge formation at a depth of between 762 meters and 914 meters.

However, Sanderson said only five to 15 percent of the oil in the ground would be recovered.

"Based on what we've found here, we're looking at between 50 and 100 billion barrels of oil in place in the ground. We believe we can recover between five and 15 percent of the oil in the ground, which by 2030 could mean that we produce 10 to 30 percent of the UK's oil demand from within the Weald area," said Sanderson.

News of the discovery caused shares in UKOG to rise more than 200 percent by mid-morning on Thursday. Endit