Jolly Good! :bowler:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32229203
QuoteOil discovery near Gatwick airport 'significant'
By John Moylan
Industry correspondent, BBC News
9 April 2015
There could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil onshore beneath the South of England, says exploration firm UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG).
Last year, the firm drilled a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport, and analysis of that well suggests the local area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per square mile.
But only a fraction of the 100 billion total would be recovered, UKOG admits.
The North Sea has produced about 45 billion barrels in 40 years.
"We think we've found a very significant discovery here, probably the largest [onshore in the UK] in the last 30 years, and we think it has national significance," Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's chief executive told the BBC.
UKOG says that the majority of the oil lies within the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge formation at a depth of between 2,500ft (762m) and 3,000ft (914m).
It describes this as a "world class potential resource" and that the well has the "potential for significant daily oil production".
Compared with similar geology in the US and West Siberia, it estimates that 3% to 15% of the oil could be recovered.
Underground riches
Oil has been produced onshore in the South of England for decades. There are currently around a dozen oil production sites across the Weald, a region spanning Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.
Last year, a report for the government by the British Geological Survey estimated that the region may have shale oil resources in the range of 2.2-to-8.5 billion barrels, with a central estimate of 4.4 billion barrels of oil.
UKOG says that it drilled the deepest well in the region in the last 30 years and that the results "comprehensively change the understanding of the area's potential oil resources".
"Based on what we've found here, we're looking at between 50 and 100 billion barrels of oil in place in the ground," says Mr Sanderson.
"We believe we can recover between 5% and 15% of the oil in the ground, which by 2030 could mean that we produce 10%-to-30% of the UK's oil demand from within the Weald area."
'Significant'
Work currently under way at Imperial College also suggests that there may be more oil in the region than previously thought.
Professor Alastair Fraser has used some of the most sophisticated equipment in the world, based at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, to analyse rock samples.
His study of a third of the Weald came up with a resource of 13 billion barrels.
"So if I scaled that up, we are coming up to numbers of 40 billion barrels," he told the BBC.
"Now that's getting significant. That's a resource. That's what's there in the ground. We've still got to get it out."
Fracking unnecessary
Most experts believe fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, will be needed to get commercial quantities of oil from the region.
Concerns over fracking led to large-scale protests when Cuadrilla drilled at Balcombe, West Sussex, in 2013.
But UKOG has consistently stated that it is not intending to use fracking, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into rocks at high pressure to liberate the oil and gas trapped within.
It says that the oil at Horse Hill is held in rocks that are naturally fractured, which "gives strong encouragement that these reservoirs can be successfully produced using conventional horizontal drilling and completion techniques".
The company says further drilling and well testing will be needed to prove these initial results.
Will England now threaten to secede declaring this 'England's Oil'?
OPEC will invade.
I thought they discovered actual *barrels* of oil near the airport and thought it might be a tad dangerous to keep it so close to an airport. :homestar:
What is fracking unnecessary?
Russia's lapdogs..., err, I mean, concerned environmentalists will sure protest the appaling idea of building oil wells on English soil.
Quote from: Martinus on April 10, 2015, 07:57:28 AM
I thought they discovered actual *barrels* of oil near the airport and thought it might be a tad dangerous to keep it so close to an airport. :homestar:
Yeah. Not the worst Timmay title ever (he can't claim this one is just the title of the article), but it's up there. No barrels at all were discovered, "up to 100 billion barrels" worth is not "100 billion barrels" worth, and, even if it was, little of this oil will be extracted.
I'd say "Timmay fail," but that's redundant.
Quote from: Martinus on April 10, 2015, 07:57:28 AM
I thought they discovered actual *barrels* of oil near the airport and thought it might be a tad dangerous to keep it so close to an airport.
Ditto. Shame on us for taking a TimThread title seriously.
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:48:31 AM
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
Too expensive I would guess.
Quote from: Valmy on April 10, 2015, 11:51:20 AM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:48:31 AM
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
Too expensive I would guess.
Have they ever heard of hydraulic fracturing?
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:59:21 AM
Have they ever heard of hydraulic fracturing?
Leasing the land use alone would cost a fortune in that area. So many cheaper places to get oil.
Poor Britain. :( Hopefully they keep it as a reserve. Oil can be a terrible curse on an economy.
Quote from: Razgovory on April 10, 2015, 12:03:38 PM
Poor Britain. :( Hopefully they keep it as a reserve. Oil can be a terrible curse on an economy.
Yeah it totally devastated Texas. Oh wait...
But I guess alot has changed since those days in the oil and gas market.
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:48:31 AM
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
South-East England, a couple of thousand people to each square mile living in houses valued at £500,000 on average, might not be worth it unless the extractive method is very unobtrusive.
Yeah 'You mind if we pump oil in your garden?' is probably going to require a bit of negotiation. Not to mention the neighbors may be under the impression it may reduce their quality of life or something crazy like that.
But I bet you guys feel stupid for grabbing all those colonies to secure oil resources in the 20th century now eh? You were sitting on it all along.
Quote from: Valmy on April 10, 2015, 12:04:36 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on April 10, 2015, 12:03:38 PM
Poor Britain. :( Hopefully they keep it as a reserve. Oil can be a terrible curse on an economy.
Yeah it totally devastated Texas. Oh wait...
But I guess alot has changed since those days in the oil and gas market.
it destroyed Canada, apparently. Thank God we don't exploit our oil in Quebec, not only would we keep on destroying Canada, but we'd be rich too. Canadians would have real reasons to hates us now.
Quote from: Valmy on April 10, 2015, 12:01:05 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:59:21 AM
Have they ever heard of hydraulic fracturing?
Leasing the land use alone would cost a fortune in that area. So many cheaper places to get oil.
Hydraulic fracturing uses very little land.
Have you seen a completed well?
It takes very little space. You can have it on your backyard.
What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.
I am well aware what those things look like. We have been leasing land for fracking for years. But even with our relatively worthless farmland leasing is a big thing.
Lots of oil is not extractable using modern technology, even hydraulic fracturing. It isn't even (necessarily) dependent on how many houses are in the area, or how much they are worth. It's more a matter of how concentrated the oil is and how much pressure it is under.
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 12:17:22 PM
What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.
You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well? :huh:
You haven't been trying.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 10, 2015, 07:49:06 AM
OPEC will invade.
The US may invade.... ;)
But wait, the US now has massive reserves of oil and gas, so I think the UK is safe! :bowler:
About time they finally started sorting out lost luggage.
Can someone dig up the end of oil thread we had a few years back?
Quote from: grumbler on April 10, 2015, 12:21:39 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 12:17:22 PM
What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.
You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well? :huh:
You haven't been trying.
I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 03:10:13 PM
Quote from: grumbler on April 10, 2015, 12:21:39 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 12:17:22 PM
What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.
You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well? :huh:
You haven't been trying.
I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.
Not the water well you poison, oil wells.
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 03:10:13 PM
Quote from: grumbler on April 10, 2015, 12:21:39 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 12:17:22 PM
What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.
You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well? :huh:
You haven't been trying.
I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.
Well, it's not your fracking business, anyway.
Quote from: Valmy on April 10, 2015, 12:14:42 PM
Yeah 'You mind if we pump oil in your garden?' is probably going to require a bit of negotiation.
Are you kidding me? I'd jump at the chance to have someone drill a well in my yard. That's like having a second paycheck for a job you don't have to go to. :P
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on April 10, 2015, 12:12:41 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:48:31 AM
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
South-East England, a couple of thousand people to each square mile living in houses valued at £500,000 on average, might not be worth it unless the extractive method is very unobtrusive.
And English land law doesn't help either I've read. Even ignoring the apparently sometimes difficult discovery of who owns the mineral rights (apparently the CofE especially was very aggressive in getting their manorial rights to minerals registered before the expiry of that 'overriding interst'). Lots of little rights and interests in the land that are all protected and would be probably very expensive to buy out.
Quote from: Sheilbh on April 10, 2015, 04:49:54 PM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on April 10, 2015, 12:12:41 PM
Quote from: Siege on April 10, 2015, 11:48:31 AM
Why wouldn't it be extracted?
South-East England, a couple of thousand people to each square mile living in houses valued at £500,000 on average, might not be worth it unless the extractive method is very unobtrusive.
And English land law doesn't help either I've read. Even ignoring the apparently sometimes difficult discovery of who owns the mineral rights (apparently the CofE especially was very aggressive in getting their manorial rights to minerals registered before the expiry of that 'overriding interst'). Lots of little rights and interests in the land that are all protected and would be probably very expensive to buy out.
Depends on your legal regime. Here in Alberta, where the laws are well-developed (and not surprisingly oil company friendly) all those little interests get pooled and any and all revenue shared, even without your consent.
Yeah I mean English land law specifically. It's not like that at all and I can imagine no issue more likely to cause a revolution in this country than a government trying to change that :lol:
Quote from: KRonn on April 10, 2015, 12:40:03 PM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on April 10, 2015, 07:49:06 AM
OPEC will invade.
The US may invade.... ;)
But wait, the US now has massive reserves of oil and gas, so I think the UK is safe! :bowler:
No invasion necessary...after prolific fracking, Albion will sink beneath the waves.
An onshore field has been exploited for decades in Dorset, with very little fuss and very little environmental damage :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wytch_Farm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/10233955/The-town-where-a-form-of-fracking-is-already-happening.html
High production considering the small footprint, well worth it in my view.