Northwest Energy said it has identified seven drilling sites in the south of the UK that could hold significant oil reserves.
Norwest chief executive Peter Munachen said the resource evaluation has determined that every one of these leads has the potential to exceed the minimum threshold of 400,000 barrels of oil.
“This provides encouragement for Norwest to conduct further work to de-risk the leads into drillable prospects,” Munachen said.
“Onshore England has been overshadowed by the higher North Sea petroleum province, but as working the North Sea becomes more difficult and more expensive, this is likely to change.”
The Wessex Basin contains Europe’s largest onshore oil and gas field and the BP-operated Wytch Farm has estimated original reserves of 500 million barrels of which 400 million barrels has been produced to date.
Norwest holds interests in and is operator of three Wessex Basin permits: at Dorset, immediately north of Wytch Farm; at the Hurst Castle project area in Hampshire; and on the Isle of Wight.
Though the lead sizes are smaller than the giant Wytch Farm field, Northwest hopes to achieve significant future commercial success based on the proximity of its permits to the farm.
