UKOG gets two-year planning extension to Broadford Bridge discovery

UK Oil & Gas announced on Friday that the West Sussex County Council has approved, by a 7-2 majority vote, a two-year planning extension to its Broadford Bridge-1z (BB-1z) Kimmeridge oil discovery.

The AIM-traded firm said the discovery is located in licence PEDL234, which it wholly owns, with the planning extension running to 31 March.

It said the additional two years would permit any learnings from possible future Kimmeridge drilling at both the company's nearby Loxley conventional gas and Horse Hill oil fields to be factored into its future Broadford Bridge plans.

As it reported on 11 March, UKOG was currently awaiting a final decision on its appeal against Surrey County Council's refusal of planning consent for the Loxley gas project by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The Planning Inspectorate told the Company in March that they expected the Secretary of State to issue his decision on or before 7 June.

“In accord with the Company's stated plans to diversify into the provision of sustainable green energy in the UK, the extension will also permit conceptual plans for the supply of heat energy from BB to a possible new large scale greenhouse end-user to be further developed,” the board said in its statement.

“The early-stage concept includes use of the BB drilling pad to site several new stand-alone deep geothermal wells.”

At 1310 BST, shares in UK Oil & Gas were flat at 0.12p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.