Oil reserves found in southern England

A report from the British Geological Survey, to be released later today, is expected to say that there are several billion bbls of oil in shale rocks under a large portion of southern England, including Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

The discovery once again brings up the fracking debate, as this is the only method of getting the oil out of the ground. However, until the report is released, it will be unknown how economically recoverable the resources are. But despite the above issues, these new reserves could be a great step forward for the UK in achieving energy security.

A similar study last year revealed that the North of England could be home to approximately 1300 trillion ft³ of shale gas, which is again only recoverable by the much debated and protested fracking process.

Comments

In comments to the BBC on the report, Andrew Austin, chief executive, IGAS said, ‘we’ve known that there’s big potential for oil and gas explorations across the country but particularly in terms of oil in the Weald Basin which is the area that stretches roughly from Winchester across towards Gatwick, yup to the M25 and down to the cast at Chichester.

‘There’s been a long history of oil and gas exploration in this area. We as a company produce oil and gas from around 20 sites across that area. Around 40 million bbls have been recovered from that area to date.’

Edited for web by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/23052014/oil_gas_discovered_uk_report/