Welcome news for Egdon, Europa and Union Jack Oil as Wressle-1 flows oil…with two more intervals to test

By Amy McClellan

Three years after it was defined on 3D seismic, the Wressle prospect has yielded its first oil for its cluster of AIM-quoted backers. The Egdon Resources-operated well, which lies in a proven oil producing area of Lincolnshire to the east of Scunthorpe, was drilled last summer to target mean prospective resources of 2.1 million barrels of oil in the Upper Carboniferous.

Testing is now underway, targeting a combined payzone of over 25 metres across three separate intervals, and initial results are positive, with the first, the Ashover Grit, flowing 80 barrels per day of oil and 47,000 cubic feet per day of gas over a 16 hour period of free flow from a 9.5 metre perforation. The oil is good quality with a gravity of 39-40o API and there was minimal water.

Down-hole pressure data is now being analysed to evaluate reservoir permeability to determine how production from this interval could be increased using a pump. The Ashover Grit will now be isolated and testing will focus on the Wingfield Flags and Penistone Flags intervals.

This will be followed by a longer term pumped production test on the Ashover Grit and on the other intervals should results warrant it.Mark Abbott, managing director of Egdon Resources, welcomed the “encouraging results” from the Ashover Grit with two more intervals still to test. The Ashover Grit was up to 6.1 metres thick, the Wingfield Flags up to 5.64 metres thick and the Penistone Flags came in almost 20 metres thick, with elevated gas readings.

Abbott also addressed the low oil price, noting that the low development and operating costs of onshore UK production means that discoveries like Wressle are still commercially attractive. It helps, of course, that the field lies in an area with good infrastructure.Indeed, fellow JV partner, Europa Oil & Gas, has existing production on trend, with its Crosby Warren oilfield just 5 km away. Europa’s CEO,

Mackay, said a free flowing rate of 80 bpd was a “great start” to the testing operations. Not that onshore UK oil production is immune from the lower price environment. Indeed, Europa recently shut in its West Firsby-9 well, which requires a recompletion, an investment the company can’t justify at current oil prices.The well was producing around 8 bpd before shut-in so its impact on the global oil glut will be less than negligible and there will be only a minor dent in Europa’s group production while preserving cash for higher value and more material projects. From initial results, it looks like Wressle will count as one of those as that 80 bpd would make it a shoe-in for commercial development in normal price conditions.

Egdon has a 25 per cent stake in PEDL 180, which hosts Wressle, alongside JV partners Europa Oil & Gas with a 33.3 per cent working interest,Celtique Energie Petroleum with 33.3 per cent and Union Jack Oil with 8.3 per cent.