'˜Gatwick Gusher' oil group soars after well tests

Shares in the firm behind the so-called 'Gatwick Gusher', which almost doubled yesterday, continued to rise today after early tests showed 'significant' amounts of oil at one of its wells.

UKOG said its site near Gatwick Airport could contain 'significant' amounts of oil. Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) said yesterday that it had found rates of oil in excess of 463 barrels per day at its Weald Basin site near Gatwick Airport, on the border between Sussex and Surrey.

Aim-quoted UKOG’s shares jumped as high as 2.6p yesterday before settling to 2p, and this morning they again touched the 2.6p level in early trading as the firm said sweet oil continued to flow naturally to the surface.

Yesterday’s surge came amid rollercoaster trading for the wider oil sector when the price rose several dollars on news that Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar had agreed to rein in production, but later fell back as Iran refused to join the club.

UKOG executive chairman Stephen Sanderson said of the Gatwick find: “The well continues to produce high quality oil at good rates. Although further work is required to be done, we are now beginning to establish the commerciality of the project earlier than originally anticipated. The first two tankers full with 348 barrels of oil were sent to be refined at noon yesterday.”

In 2014, test results showed that a Gatwick well could contain substantial quantities of oil. Then UKOG excited investors last April when it said there could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil at the site, quadrupling the shares at the time.

UKOG owns a 30 per cent direct investment in Horse Hill Developments, the outfit which is drilling the site.