4 April
2017
Doriemus Plc
(“Doriemus” or the
“Company”)
OGA Extends
Retention Area Period for Horse Hill Licences, Weald Basin, SE
UK
Doriemus (NEX: DOR) is pleased to announce that it has been
informed by the operator, Horse Hill Developments Limited (“HHDL”),
that the Oil and Gas Authority (“OGA”) has consented to extend the
current PEDL137 and PEDL246 Retention Areas (“RAs”) until 2021. The
PEDL137 and PEDL246 RAs, which cover the entirety of the licences,
will now expire on 30 September 2021
and 30 June 2021, respectively. The
Company owns 10% of HHDL, which owns 65% of the Horse Hill Licences
which hosts the HH-1 oil discovery well, or a 6% attributable
interest in the licences.
The RAs work programmes, now agreed with the OGA, comprise; the
planned Horse Hill-1 (“HH-1”) Kimmeridge and Portland production
tests, HH-1z Kimmeridge Limestone (“KL”) and HH-2 Portland
appraisal wells, 50 km² of 3D seismic, 25 km of 2D seismic and a
PEDL246 exploration step-out well. The RAs for each licence can be
further extended or modified subject to an ongoing minimum work
programme agreed by the OGA.
David Lenigas, Chairman of the Company
commented:
‘’We are very pleased to have received
confirmation of this notification from the OGA, through the
operator, HHDL. The matter represents another significant step in
the journey from discovery to production. There is no doubt in my
mind that the Wealden area is developing into a significant natural
resources oil play and we are pleased to be one of the joint
venture partners pursuing the exploitation of one of our
Country’s significant natural resources’’.
HH-1 Oil Discovery
The HH-1 Kimmeridge Limestone and Portland oil discovery well is
located within onshore exploration Licence PEDL137, on the northern
side of the Weald Basin, 3 km north of Gatwick Airport. As
previously reported in February and March
2016, two naturally-fractured limestone members within the
Kimmeridge section, known as KL3 and KL4, flowed dry, 40-degree API
oil, at an aggregate stabilised natural flow rate of 1,365 barrels
per day (“bopd”) with no clear indication of depletion. The
overlying Portland flowed dry, 35-37 API gravity crude at a stable
pumped rate of 323 bopd. The Portland oil was produced at the
rod-pump’s maximum achievable rate and thus flow was constrained by
the pump’s mechanical capacity.
As previously reported in October
2016, an application for long term production testing and
further appraisal drilling was submitted to Surrey County Council
in October 2016, and is now scheduled
to be decided at the Council’s planning committee meeting in
July 2017. The Company therefore
envisages that these operations will commence in the second half of
2017 upon grant of the necessary remaining regulatory
permissions.
Qualified Person's Statement
Stephen Sanderson stated: "The
revised RA expiry dates ensure that the knowledge gained from the
forthcoming extensive 2017 Broadford Bridge, Horse Hill and
Holmwood drilling and test campaign, can be fully incorporated into
future Kimmeridge Limestone step-out wells in PEDL246 and PEDL137.
2017 is set to become a pivotal year for the Company."
The directors of Doriemus accept responsibility for this
announcement
For further information, please
contact:
Doriemus Plc:
David Lenigas
Hamish Harris
Donald Strang |
+44 (0)20 7440
0640 |
Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited Corporate Adviser
Guy Miller / Fungai Ndoro |
+44 (0)20 7469
0930 |
Glossary:
degree API |
a measure of the density of crude
oil, as defined by the American Petroleum Institute |
discovery |
a discovery is a petroleum
accumulation for which one or several exploratory wells have
established through testing, sampling and/or logging the existence
of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons |
flow test |
a flow test or well test involves
testing a well by flowing hydrocarbons to surface, typically
through a test separator. Key measured parameters are oil and gas
flow rates, downhole pressure and surface pressure. The overall
objective is to identify the well's capacity to produce
hydrocarbons at a commercial flow rate |
limestone |
a sedimentary rock predominantly
composed of calcite (a crystalline mineral form of calcium
carbonate) of organic, chemical or detrital origin. Minor amounts
of dolomite, chert and clay are common in limestones. Chalk is a
form of fine-grained limestone |
Retention Area (“RA”) |
An area covering all or part of an
onshore UK “14th Round New Model” Licence that can be
retained until the expiry date without any relinquishment and
subject to a work programme agreed by the OGA. Usually, as in the
case of PEDL137 and PEDL246, the Retention Area covers the entire
Licenced area |
seismic |
use of reflected and refracted sound
waves generated at the surface to ascertain the nature of
subsurface geological structure. 2D seismic records a
two-dimensional cross-section through the subsurface collected
using the two-dimensional common mid-point method. 3D seismic
records a three-dimensional image through the subsurface using the
common depth-point method. |
step-out |
a well designed to determine the
lateral extent of a discovered hydrocarbon accumulation or
play |