UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) has received final regulatory consent from the Oil and Gas Authority ('OGA') to acquire a 20% interest in UK onshore Weald Basin licence PEDL143, via the previously announced farm-in with Egdon Resources. The operator of PEDL143 is Europa Oil & Gas.

PEDL143 covers 35.5 sq miles and is located to the immediate west of Horse Hill licence PEDL137, in which UKOG has a 20.163% interest, and to the immediate south of the Brockham oil field, licence PL235, in which UKOG has an interest via its 6% ownership of Angus Energy.

PEDL143 contains the Holmwood conventional prospect, which the PEDL143 partnership plans to test with the Holmwood-1 ('H-1') exploration well. Full planning consent was granted for the well in September 2015. The well is intended to be drilled to a total depth of approx. 4,600 ft (1,400 metres) true vertical depth, to penetrate the Upper and Lower Portland Sandstone reservoir targets, the full Kimmeridge tight oil section and the underlying Middle Jurassic Corallian Sandstone reservoir objective.

As previously reported, a Competent Persons Report ('CPR') by ERC Equipoise ('ERCE') shows the H-1 exploration well will target mean gross prospective resources of 5.6 million barrels for the combined Portland and Corallian objectives.

The H-1 well will also provide a key new penetration into the Kimmeridge tight oil play fairway, adjacent to UKOG's Horse Hill licences. The H-1 well will represent only the third modern well to penetrate and sample the Kimmeridge tight oil section alongside Horse Hill-1 and Balcombe-2. Therefore, the well will provide an insightful modern data point in the overall tight oil proof of concept process in the Weald Basin.

The recently reported Nutech Wider Weald oil in place study indicates the Kimmeridge section to be favourably developed and with significant oil in place underlying the proposed H-1 well location and PEDL143. Nutech identified further significant tight oil potential in the Oxford Clay and Lias Formation sections underlying PEDL143. The partnership anticipates that H-1 drilling will take place in late 2016 or early 2017.

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Executive Chairman commented:

'As a result of OGA's consent for the PEDL143 farm-In, UKOG has now materially increased the prospective resources and recoverable oil potential of its core Weald portfolio. The conventional Holmwood prospect alone adds an additional net 1.1 million mean unrisked barrels of prospective resources to UKOG. The additional potential contained within the Kimmeridge tight oil section, to be tested by the H-1 well, provides the company with both a stronger overall position in the tight oil play fairway and a further opportunity to validate the regional extent and commerciality of the play.'

'Given UKOG's position in the Kimmeridge limestone play, together with its knowledgeable position in the Portland gained from Brockham and Horse Hill-1, we plan to be an active partner, particularly in assisting well design and data acquisition within the H-1 well. We look forward to a fruitful relationship with the partnership and future success in the H-1 well.'