Gunsynd PLC Horse Hill Update (4500B)

TIDMGUN

RNS Number : 4500B

Gunsynd PLC

04 April 2017

Gunsynd plc

("Gunsynd" or the "Company")

OGA Agrees Work Programme and Extends Retention Area Periods for Horse Hill Licenses, Weald Basin, SE UK

The Company announces that it has been informed by the operator, Horse Hill Developments Limited ("HHDL"), that the Oil and Gas Authority ("OGA") has consented to extend the current PEDL137 and PEDL246 Retention Areas ("RAs") until 2021. The PEDL137 and PEDL246 RAs, which cover the entirety of the licences, will now expire on 30(th) September and 30(th) June, 2021, respectively. The Company holds a 1.3% net interest in the licences via its 2.0% ownership of the licence's operator HHDL.

The RA work programmes, now agreed with OGA, comprise; the planned Horse Hill-1 ("HH-1") Kimmeridge and Portland production tests, HH-1z Kimmeridge Limestone ("KL") and HH-2 Portland appraisal wells, 50 km(2) of 3D seismic, 25 km of 2D seismic in PEDL246 and a PEDL246 exploration step-out well. The RAs for each licence can be further extended or modified subject to an ongoing minimum work programme agreed by the OGA.

HH-1 Oil Discovery

The HH-1 Kimmeridge Limestone and Portland oil discovery well is located within onshore exploration Licence PEDL137, on the northern side of the Weald Basin, 3 km north of Gatwick Airport. As previously reported in February and March 2016, two naturally-fractured limestone members within the Kimmeridge section, known as KL3 and KL4, flowed dry, 40-degree API oil, at an aggregate stabilised natural flow rate of 1,365 barrels per day ("bopd") with no clear indication of depletion. The overlying Portland flowed dry, 35-37 API gravity crude at a stable pumped rate of 323 bopd. The Portland was produced at the rod-pump's maximum achievable rate and thus flow was constrained by the pump's mechanical capacity.

As previously reported in October 2016 and March 2016, an application for long term production testing and further appraisal drilling was submitted to Surrey County Council in October 2016, and is now scheduled to be decided at the Council's planning committee meeting in July 2017. The Company therefore envisages that these operations will commence in the second half of 2017 upon grant of the necessary remaining regulatory permissions.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014

For further information, please contact:

For further information please contact:

 
 Gunsynd plc 
  Hamish Harris                [phone] 
 Cairn Financial Advisers 
  LLP 
  James Caithie / Sandy 
  Jamieson                     [phone] 
 Peterhouse Corporate 
  Finance 
  Lucy Williams                [phone] 
 

Glossary:

 
 degree API     a measure of the density of crude 
                 oil, as defined by the American 
                 Petroleum Institute 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 discovery      a discovery is a petroleum accumulation 
                 for which one or several exploratory 
                 wells have established through 
                 testing, sampling and/or logging 
                 the existence of a significant 
                 quantity of potentially moveable 
                 hydrocarbons 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 limestone      a sedimentary rock predominantly 
                 composed of calcite (a crystalline 
                 mineral form of calcium carbonate) 
                 of organic, chemical or detrital 
                 origin. Minor amounts of dolomite, 
                 chert and clay are common in limestones. 
                 Chalk is a form of fine-grained 
                 limestone 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 Retention      An area covering all or part of 
  Area ("RA")    an onshore UK "14(th) Round New 
                 Model" Licence that can be retained 
                 until the expiry date without any 
                 relinquishment and subject to a 
                 work programme agreed by the OGA. 
                 Usually, as in the case of PEDL137 
                 and PEDL246, the Retention Area 
                 covers the entire Licensed area 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 seismic        use of reflected and refracted 
                 sound waves generated at the surface 
                 to ascertain the nature of subsurface 
                 geological structure. 2D seismic 
                 records a two-dimensional cross-section 
                 through the subsurface collected 
                 using the two-dimensional common 
                 mid-point method. 3D seismic records 
                 a three-dimensional image through 
                 the subsurface using the common 
                 depth-point method. 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 step-out       a well designed to determine the 
                 lateral extent of a discovered 
                 hydrocarbon accumulation or play 
-------------  ------------------------------------------ 
 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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April 04, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)