UK Oil & Gas applies for three more licences in Turkey

UK Oil & Gas announced on Thursday that, together with its 50-50 joint venture partner in Turkey, Aladdin Middle East (AME), it has applied to the Turkish authorities for three further exploration licences in the south east of the country.

The AIM-traded firm said the application area covered four 150 square kilometre blocks lying to the south and south east of its 305 square kilometre Basur-Resan licence.

It said the application was on a ground floor basis, with UKOG responsible solely for its 50% share of any future costs.

The board said the four blocks straddled multiple large identified undrilled surface geological features, with each geologically similar to its Basur-Resan oil appraisal project, AME's producing East Sadak oil field and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq's oil fields to the south.

To date, the application blocks had been “scantily” explored, UKOG said, with almost no seismic coverage and few wells.

“The most northerly block lies immediately southeast of the company's Resan licence and contains an extension of the Basur-Resan accumulation, penetrated by two wells with good oil indications,” the board explained in its statement.

“A further possible undrilled Basur-Resan extension lies immediately to the southeast.

The remaining 600 square kilometre area has seen only three legacy wells drilled in 60 years.”

The company said it also understood that a recent well, immediately adjacent to the most easterly application block, produced oil to surface from the same geological reservoir as Basur-Resan and East Sadak.

It added that the four geologically-prospective blocks were offered in a licence round which attracted three other applications, including one from the Turkish state oil and gas company TPAO.

“Further to a recent favourable meeting with the Turkish licence regulator GDMPA, we understand that the AME-UKOG application has now been passed to the Turkish government for approval,” the directors said.

“At this stage, whilst indications are positive, we await formal notification as to which licence or licences, if any, are awarded to AME-UKOG.

“Notification is expected within 60 days, [and] results and terms will be released in due course.”

At 1107 GMT, shares in UK Oil & Gas were down 0.86% at 0.14p.