Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) this morning sees more good news from the Horse Hill project, in the south of England, where a consult has now upgraded estimates for one of the reservoirs encountered by the Horse Hill 1 well.
Nutech has increased by 200% its calculated oil in place for the Upper Portland pay zone to 22.9mln barrels per square mile, up from 7.7mln.
It comes after flow testing in the Upper Portland yielded a rate of 323 barrels of oil per day. Nutech noted that the flow of dry oil little or no water triggered a reassessment of its prior petrophysical model.
Neil Ritson, Solo Oil chairman, said: "Significant progress is being made at Horse Hill building on the results of the very successful flow tests earlier in the year.
“Solo is pleased that the estimated oil in place has been increased and that the Horse Hill group is proceeding with the next phase of the appraisal of this important discovery."
The well, located near Gatwick airport, has been a high profile project for investors in London and its early promise was seemingly underlined by the better than expected flow testing results.
Horse Hill's Portland reservoir is conventional and it is smaller than the 'hybrid' play in the deeper Kimmeridge zones where estimates have previously been expressed in 'billions of barrels'. During the recent testing both the Portland and Kimmeridge produced oil to surface - in aggregate the well yielded 1,688 bopd.
Solo spelled out that Nutech’s figure for the calculated OIP per square mile should not be construed as either contingent resources or reserves.
Additionally, Solo also highlighted that planning and environmental impact consultant Barton Willmore has now been hired to prepare applications to Surrey County Council for a new appraisal programme to advance Horse Hill towards production.
It is proposed that a longer, 360 day, production test from the three Kimmeridge Limestone zones as well as the Portland. Two further wells, either appraisal or development, are also proposed along with 3D seismic.
As part of the process it is anticipated that a public consultation and engagement process will take place shortly, with the planning application pencilled in for early in the fourth quarter.
Solo Oil has a 6.5% interest in Horse Hill, held alongside a number of other London listed oil juniors including UK Oil & Gas Investments Plc (LON:UKOG), which with 27% is the largest listed stakeholder, as well as Stellar Resources Plc (LON:STG), Evocutis plc (LON:EVO), Alba Minerals Plc (LON:ALBA) and Doriemus PLC (LON:DOR).
UKOG chief executive Stephen Sanderson, in a separate statement, highlighted that the permitting process was now the “next key step” in moving Horse Hill towards early monetisation.
“We look forward to the conclusion of the regulatory consent cycle and eagerly await the start of planned long term flow testing," he said.
Focussing on the prior flow testing and the Nutech upgrade, Sanderson added: “The record breaking flow test results and revised Nutech analysis gives us key new technical insight into the oil bearing Portland reservoir.
“More importantly than the simple increase in Portland oil in the ground, these learnings have significant positive implications for potential recovery factors and for future commercial viability.
“The economic potential of the Portland looks increasingly positive.
“The validation of Nutech's Kimmeridge evaluation by the flow tests also underscore the company's expectation that significant volumes of oil lie in the ground within the licence and can be brought to the surface at commercial rates.”