Sweet crude flows from Gatwick Airport oilfield

First ever crude oil has flowed at encouraging levels from the Horse Hill discovery well being drilled in the Weald Basin near Gatwick Airport, as anti-fracking protests reconvened nearby.

The AIM-listed companies with stakes in the PEDL137 onshore exploration licence, namely UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG), Alba Mineral Resources, Doriemus, Solo Oil, Stellar Resources and Evocutis, all reported that light, sweet oil had flowed naturally to the surface from an 80-foot zone within the Lower Kimmeridge limestone interval at a depth of approximately 900 metres below ground level.

After flowing at its own pressure and then being choked back, the well flowed at a steady early oil rate of more than 463 barrels per day (bpd) over more than seven hours and will be continued on Tuesday, before the second and third phases of the Horse Hill-1 well are moved to the shallower Upper Kimmeridge limestone and Portland sandstone zones.

The companies, which have denied that fracking techniques will be used to extract the oil, said the flow rates were far higher than even their most optimistic expectations.

Stephen Sanderson, executive chairman of UKOG, which has a 20.16% stake in the PEDL137 licence and a 30% direct interest in the Horse Hill Developments Ltd joint venture, said the flow of oil was a "very significant event" for the company and for oil and gas activity in the Weald basin of southern England.

He added: "The flow test, the first ever in the Lower Kimmeridge limestone within the Weald basin, provides proof that significant quantities of moveable oil exist within the Kimmeridge section of the well and can be brought to surface at excellent flow rates. In this case from a vertical well with minimal stimulation."

Sanderson added that the planned future use of a horizontal well and "appropriate conventional reservoir stimulation techniques" could increase flow rates even further.

The zones being examined at HH-1 are 900m, 840m and 615m, which are all shallower than the 1,000m at which fracking is not allowed.

HHDL, a special purpose company that owns a 65% participating interest and operatorship of PEDL137 and the adjacent PEDL246 licence, will soon begin the regulatory permit process to attempt to demonstrate commercial levels of production.

Of the rest of the PEDL137 licence ownership, stakes range from Alba's 9.75%, then Doriemus, Solo Oil, Stellar Resources all owns 6.5% each, while Evocutis owns a 1.3% interest.

Alba owns 15% of HHDL, while Doriemus, Solo and Stellar own 10%, and Evocutis 2%.

Analysts at WH Ireland agreed that Tuesday's news was "highly significant" for the Horse Hill asset as it is the first ever flow test in the Lower Kimmeridge limestone interval within the Weald basin and "provides proof that moveable oil exists".

It has been claimed by UKOG and co that the entire Weald Basin could contain up to 124bn barrels of oil.

On Saturday, anti-fracking protesters reconvened close to the Horse Hill well, the BBC reported, though the consortium has maintained that it does not intend to use the controversial fracking technique in its attempt to extract the oil.

Shares in the companies were up by between 16% and 40% by 0900 GMT on Tuesday, though Doriemus remains suspended pending a potential reverse takeover.