United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) enjoyed a second successful North Sea licensing, one in which it was awarded four blocks.
Covering 500 square-kilometres, 14/15c, 15/11c, 15/12a, and 15/13c are described as “highly prospective” with one target, Zeta, estimated by the company to contain 90mln barrels of in-place oil.
The blocks lie just 10 kilometres from United's Crown Discovery, and are close to the Marigold and Yeoman operations and the substantial Piper, MacCulloch and Claymore oil fields.
They were awarded in the UK Oil and Gas Authority's 31st licensing round on a low-cost work programme basis, which involves buying existing high-quality 3D seismic dataset and detailed geological and geophysical analysis.
This analysis is planned to better quantify the chance of success and reduce the uncertainty on the estimated oil volumes, ahead of making a drilling commitment, United said.
Chief operating officer Jonathan Leather added: "We are delighted with these awards, which, based on extensive technical work carried out over the available acreage ahead of the application were our primary focus for the 31st Round.
"This is our second successful UK licencing round and our largest award to date. United has done well to be included in the roster of companies which have been successful in this round, including Chrysaor, Equinor, Chevron and Total."