Britain Strikes Black Gold: Oil Flow From ‘Gatwick Gusher’ Beats Expectations

Shares in UK Oil and Gas Investments soared by as much as 77pc after the Aim-listed developer announced that oil from its well near Gatwick Airport in Surrey flowed at a faster rate than expected.

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UK Oil and Gas (Ukog) has claimed that oil from the so called "Gatwick gusher" at Horse Hill flowed from 900m below ground level to the surface without extra help from operators, and at a better rate than expected of 463 barrels a day. Ukog and its partners in Horse Hill have claimed that more than 9.2 billion barrels of oil lie under the 55 square kilometre licence area in the Weald Basin. --Jillian Ambrose, The Daily Telegraph, 16 February 2016 A spot in the south of England near Gatwick airport could hold a massive amount of oil even larger than that found at the North Sea oil fields. Investigations at the site in Horse Hill by UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG), have discovered the site could hold up to 100bn barrels of the black stuff - dwarfing the 45bn barrels produced by the North Sea in the last 40 years. –City A.M., 9 April 2015 The world's two most powerful oil producers have reached a tentative agreement to freeze oil production at their current levels, dashing hopes of a supply cut for the world's glutted market. Meeting in Doha, Russian, Venezuelan, Qatari and Saudi Arabian oil ministers reached a deal to not exceed production from their January levels, but only if it was followed suit by other producers such as Iran and Iraq. Forward prices for Bent crude plunged by as much as 3pc on the news to $33.68 a barrel, reversing days of gains. --Mehreen Khan, The Daily Telegraph, 16 February 2016

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Stop press!! Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil output!! At first glance, the remarks at today’s meeting in Doha were hugely significant, coming both from the notoriously stubborn leader of the Opec cartel and one of the largest non-Opec producers in the world. But look a little closer and this might be more of a tremor than an earthquake on the richter scale of exciting energy news. The market clearly isn’t impressed – the price of brent crude soared by six per cent in early trading to more than $35 on hopes of a deal, but came crashing back down again after the announcement. --Suzie Neuwirth, City A.M. 16 February 2016 So, if there’s a world awash with crude oil and the two largest producers reach an agreement to restrict the future growth of their output then that should cheer up the financial markets, right? So, they’re not going to expand production any further and thus some of this supply surplus will dry up. That must be positive for the oil price, right? Nope, not at all. --Tim Worstall, Forbes, 16 February 2016 Europe’s biggest energy firm, EDF, fuelled concerns about keeping Britain’s lights on after it was forced into a backdoor rights issue and failed to commit to the UK’s biggest nuclear project. The UK’s energy future was left up in the air after EDF dodged a decision on Hinkley Point C, the planned nuclear. EDF has already sold a 33.5% stake to China General Nuclear Power Corporation, but today’s dividend cut could ignite fears the energy giant lacks the firepower to execute the plan. --Michael Bow, London Evening Standard, 16 February 2016 Sir David King, Special Representative for Climate Change of the United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, has called on the International Energy Agency (IEA) to make ‘defossilisation’ of the world economy a central part of the way the IEA operates. The last thing that any sensible person would want is for the IEA to become yet another uncritical element in green energy PR. --John Constable, Global Warming Policy Forum, 15 February 2016

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