UK Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UKOG) chief executive Stephen Sanderson says the pace of progress in Turkey is “a welcome change” from working in Britain.
The comment comes as UKOG, a company that made its name with the controversial Horse Hill oil project near Gatwick airport, announced the start of construction in Turkey ahead of new drilling.
Construction of the Basur-3 appraisal well's drilling pad and access road has now begun, this work is expected to run for around 60 days – followed in due course by well drilling.
In a statement, UKOG noted that the Basur-3 well will be the first modern appraisal well designed to confirm the extent and commerciality of the discovered Basur-Resan Mardin oil pool, which the company says could contain between 37.2mln and 67mln barrels of recoverable oil resources.
According to the company the Basur-3 and subsequent Resan-6 appraisal drilling programmes present a compelling and potentially transformational growth opportunity.
"The breaking of ground at the new Basur-3 drilling site makes this material appraisal project very real and tangible,” Sanderson. said
“The speed of entry into the operational phase, barely two months after government ratification of our entry into Turkey and despite pandemic constraints, nicely demonstrates the ability to move projects forwards at pace in Turkey, a welcome change from the UK.”
In London, UKOG shares rose around 10% in Tuesday morning’s deals to change hands at 0.13p.