Egdon Focuses On Conventional UK Drilling, Waiting for Shale
Waiting for its shale projects to speed up, UK-focused Egdon Resources announced the commencement of an Extended Well Test at the Wressle-1 oil and gas discovery in licence PEDL180, located to the east of Scunthorpe, where Egdon operates with a 25% interest.
‘During initial testing, the Wressle-1 well produced oil and gas from three discrete reservoir intervals, the Ashover Grit, the Wingfield Flags, and the Penistone Flags as previously reported. At the end of those test operations, a completion was installed in the well to cater for a subsequent pumped EWT over the oil productive zones in the Ashover Grit and the Penistone Flags’ reads a note released on Thursday.
The company seemed confident about its potentials, for the moment focusing its attention on its conventional drilling prospects.
“The earlier testing of the Wressle-1 discovery in Q1 2015 was very successful with combined production rates of 710 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the four zones tested.
"We now look forward to the results of this EWT programme which will provide further valuable information on the Ashover Grit and Penistone Flags reservoirs and enable us to determine commerciality and optimise potential field development and monetisation options for the Wressle discovery” Mark Abbott Managing Director of Egdon Resources commented.
In July 2014, Egdon Resources commenced drilling operations at the Wressle-1 conventional exploration well in Lincolnshire Licence PEDL 180.
UK SHALE
Egdon Resources is one of the largest shale players in the United Kingdom, and it could capitalise on the British government’s strong endorsement to unconventional production.
“We will have the proper environmental standards around the exploration of shale gas. But I think for this country to turn its back on one of these great natural resources which other countries are using would be to basically condemn our country to higher energy bills and not as many jobs” Chancellor George Osborne said on Wednesday.
The Scottish Government, which announced in January a temporary moratorium on unconventional gas developments, could witness an increasing support to shale gas developments in Scotland too.
‘Onshore production of unconventional gas would allow Scotland control over all regulation surrounding extraction and production. The impact of unconventional gas production on the environment is considered to be comparable to conventional gas’ reads a 16-page report published by The Royal Society of Edinburgh on Wednesday.
The organisation based in Scotland also downsized the environmental risks related to shale production.
‘The areas of health, wellbeing and safety surrounding an onshore industry do not appear to present significant risks, although a degree of uncertainty is present. Domestic production onshore could improve energy security, create jobs and ensure Scotland takes responsibility for its energy consumption.’