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Proactive weekly oil news - Angus Energy, 88 Energy and Northern Petroleum

Published: 04:02 04 Mar 2017 EST

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The week ended with explorer Angus Energy Plc (LON:ANGS) saying it will produce oil from the Kimmeridge shale at the Brockham well in Surrey.

This is the same horizon that produced 1,500 barrels a day at Horse Hill, some five miles to the south.

Drill results revealed the characteristics of Brockham to be very similar and, in some respects superior, to those of the so-called 'Gatwick Gusher'.

Shares in Angus Energy surged in eraly deals before easing back on Friday.

Ian Lyall, editor at Proactive, said: "It looks like a carbon copy of the Horse Hill well. You will remember Horse Hill came on at 1500 barrels a day which is unprecedented for a UK onshore well."

The company said the Kimmeridge and other formations appear to be the same in structure to the oil-bearing Kimmeridge sections of the Horse Hill-1 well.

Notably, the Corallian formation, which lies immediately below the Kimmeridge, had both oil and gas shows, Angus added.

In drilling the side-track at Brockham, Angus first went into the Portland sandstone, host to a known oil play that is already generating 35 barrels a day.

It then pushed on into the Kimmeridge, before perforating the Coralian.

It was the Kimmeridge that set the gusher at Gatwick gushing at 1,688 barrels a day.

Elsewhere, 88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) is working on a potential £10.6mln equity funding,  the Alaska-focused explorer revealed this week.

The firm is drilling an eagerly anticipated new well in the coming weeks, said it is seeking to raise gross proceeds of A$17mln (£10.6mln) through a placing of shares at a price of 3.7 Australian cents, 2.3p (Wednesday’s closing price was 2.57p).

As is customary for shares on the Australian Securities Exchange, trading has been temporarily suspended in Sydney, though it continues to trade as normal on AIM.

Meanwhile, Northern Petroleum Plc (LON:NOP) updated investors on its Cascina Alberto project in northern Italy, where Shell, its partner, is launching a local engagement programme ahead of future exploration work.

There will be some 200 meetings with local authorities, communities and stakeholders. Information and opinion gathered through these events will assist in the EIA process, NOP noted.

The initiatives come in advance of the submission of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) which is needed before the partners conduct a geophysical study of the area.

NOP told investors that it expects field work will begin in 2018, subject to approval of the EIA.

Elsewhere, shares in Velocys PLC (LON:VLS) edged higher on Friday after the AIM-quoted company signed a definitive agreement with Japanese fabrication group Morimatsu.

Today’s agreement follows on from the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the two parties earlier this year.

Morimatsu will become Velocys’s preferred supplier of module engineering and fabrication for its gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel plants.

The arrangement is expected to bring down costs for the planned GTL and biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plants.

Finally, SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX, CVE:SDX) is preparing for the start of drilling on the South Disouq exploration well in Egypt, where the drill-bit is due to start turning within the next fortnight.

The company today told investors that construction work at the well site has been completed, and the drilling rig is currently being mobilised to the well’s location.

“We are pleased with the progress we have made around the preparations for the upcoming drilling campaign on South Disouq,” said Paul Welch, SDX chief executive.

“We look forward to keeping the market appraised of drilling developments over the coming weeks.”

Greka Drilling Limited (LON:GDL) has completed its 50th well in a coal bed methane (CBM) gas campaign for Essar Oil in India with no time lost for injuries or accidents throughout the programme.

The latest well is part of a contract that so far has seen 33 directional wells and 1 vertical well drilled.

Greka drilled 16 wells in a previous campaign and has now drilled almost 60,000 metres for Essar in India, including drilled 39,724 meters continuously in the Raniganj block, West Bengal during this latest campaign.

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