John Hutton, the UK’s Business Secretary, announced the recipients of new exploration licences in the 13th Onshore Round this week, with several small-caps among the winners.
As part of the awards, 97 Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences were offered to 54 applicants. The government said this confirmed the “continuing commercial attractiveness of onshore oil and gas exploration opportunities in the UK”
The announcements came as the government hit a recent record for oil and gas exploration interest, with 193 applications covering 277 blocks being received for the latest 25th Offshore Licensing Round, the highest number since 1974. Winners from that round will be announced later in the year.
AIM E&P group EnCore Oil said it had been offered licence PEDL240, located on blocks SZ38 South and SZ48 West South on the Isle of Wight. EnCore's equity in the licence will be 7.5pc and Northern Petroleum will be the operator.
Providence Resources and its partner, NP Weald, a subsidiary of Northern Petroleum, was offered Block SU91. Providence and Northern, who are 50/50 partners, have identified a number of exploration and development opportunities within the block, principally the Baxter's Copse oil discovery and the Burton Down exploration prospect.
Providence, which holds a 99.125% interest in the nearby Singleton oil field, will act as the operator for the group.
IGas, the developer of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in the UK and prospective producer of North Sea quality gas from virgin coal seams, was offered seven block along with its partner Nexen Exploration UK.
The blocks are sited within IGas' principle target areas in the North West of England and are all within 15km of existing drilling operations.
Egdon Resources was offered six licences covering eight blocks or part blocks in the round. The licences are located in the East Midlands and Wessex Basin and expand the company's acreage and opportunity base within our core areas of activity.
Two further applications by Egdon are also subject to further discussion with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR).
Finally, Europa Oil & Gas was awarded an exploration licence covering a large area in North Lincolnshire. The licence will be operated by Europa, with a 50% working interest, the remainder being held by Valhalla Oil & Gas Ltd.
The award lies in the Humber Basin which contains significant oil and gas fields, such as Europa's Crosby Warren Oilfield and the large (90 billion cubic feet) Saltfleetby Gasfield. However, historical exploration drilling density in the Basin is remarkably low, with only one well drilled in the awarded licence area to date.
Source: SmallCapNewsUK
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