There could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil onshore beneath the South of England, says exploration firm UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG), BBC reports.
The firm drilled a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport last year and analysis of that well suggests the local area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per square mile.
UKOG however admits that only a fraction of the 100 billion total would be recovered.
In a chat with BBC, Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's chief executive
"We
think we've found a very significant discovery here, probably the
largest [onshore in the UK] in the last 30 years, and we think it has
national significance,"
UKOG says that the
majority of the oil lies within the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge formation
at a depth of between 2,500ft (762m) and 3,000ft (914m) and describes
this as a "world class potential resource" adding that the well has the
"potential for significant daily oil production".
Compared with similar geology in the US and West Siberia, it estimates that 3% to 15% of the oil could be recovered.
