Europa Oil & Gas Plc (LON:EOG) chief executive Hugh Mackay has told Proactive Investors he is very excited about the Holmwood prospect, a Horse Hill lookalike in Southern England’s Weald basin.
Mackay’s comments come as the group has unlocked £600,000 from a divestment of a small stake in the Wressle field, another new onshore UK discovery. The cash is already earmarked for Holmwood, where drilling is planned for 2017.
Holmwood is just 12 kms due east of Horse Hill – or ‘Gatwick Gusher’ as some call it - and, according to the Europa boss, there’s reason to believe drilling next year could see a repeat success.
Those following developments in the weald closely were mindful of the follow on potential being presented to Europa’s Holmwood prospect as the Horse Hill programme advanced and eventually delivered breakout success.
By the time UKOG, Horse Hill’s largest stakeholder teamed up with Europa last June, the cat was well and truly out of the bag.
Mackay, in an interview with Proactive Investors’ Stocktube, talked through the potential for similarly between Horse Hill and Holmwood.
“We can see a lot of technical read across from the Horse Hill success to Holmwood,” Mackay said.
“And whilst we’re not going to adjust the prospective resources or the risks [ahead of drilling], we feel that Horse Hill is a very relevant well, there is good technical read across and it is certainly making us feel better about the prospect of finding hydrocarbons at Holmwood.
He emphasised an excitement at the possibility that success in the Kimmeridge targets – those proved by the Horse Hill breakthrough – could confirm that zone as a “missed pay” in the UK’s Weald basin.
It was Horse Hill’s Kimmeridge discovery that prompted a number of very large, headline grabbing estimates for the project. Third party analysis points to the potential for billions of barrels of oil to be in place through the basin, which spans a large portion of southern England.
More wells are needed to prove the extent of these resources, as well as the commercial case – though another result like Horse Hill will further quieten the sceptics.