WELL, well, well. South-East England could be sitting on a huge oil field, as much as 100 billion barrels, according to media reports of last week鈥檚 .
But some experts have since cautioned about over-hyping the find. Even UKOG chief executive Stephen Sanderson said further testing will be needed to prove the commercial viability.
of Imperial College London has questioned the reliability of the estimates, which rely on analysing the oil content of chips of Kimmeridge clay from 760 to 900 metres underground. A better approach, he says, would be to analyse a full cylindrical bore. 鈥淭hen you know the depth of the oil-bearing deposits, where it comes from and that there鈥檚 no contamination from higher up.鈥�
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Fraser would also recommend a test well to see how much, if any, oil actually came out. 鈥淵ou could look at the oil, how fast it comes out and, most important, how fast it became depleted,鈥� says Fraser. 鈥淚鈥檇 be happier with their claims if they had a core and test-well data, but they should press on and see what they can get out.鈥�
聯I鈥檇 be happier with their claims if they had a core and test-well data, but they should press on聰
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淯K oil bonanza?鈥�
