UK Oil & Gas PLC has commenced an extensive conventional coring programme in its 85.635% owned Horse Hill-2 ("HH-2") Portland pilot well. The first 60 ft core, starting at a drilled depth of 2049 ft below rig floor, was successfully landed at surface this morning and is being prepared for onward shipment to a Surrey-based laboratory, where an extensive analysis programme will be undertaken. 

Further to the Company's announcement of 8 October, the coring programme has been increased from three to a total of four 60 ft cores, covering the full 240 ft Upper Portland reservoir sequence. Operations to cut core #2 are in progress and the full programme is expected to be completed next week.

The additional 60 ft core #4 is in response to the receipt of a revised HH-1 petrophysical interpretation from Petroscale in Houston, Texas, which indicates that the field's oil water contact ("OWC") may be significantly deeper than previously recognised. If correct, the deeper OWC would increase the field's oil in place and recoverable volumes, potentially significantly beyond those reported in the Company's July 2018 readmission document. Core #4 is purposefully designed to provide the necessary data to help confirm the possible deeper OWC.

Following the coring programme, designed primarily to acquire the key technical data necessary to correctly position the HH-2z horizontal section within the Portland's most oil-productive zone, the well will drill ahead to just over 2300 ft, be electric logged and then plugged back to the "kick-off" point, delineating the start of the horizontal section. Drilling of HH-2z's circa 1000m horizontal trajectory will follow directly afterwards.

UKOG holds a controlling 85.635% interest in the Horse Hill oil field and surrounding highly prospective PEDL137 and PEDL246 licences, which are operated by UKOG's subsidiary company, Horse Hill Developments Ltd.

About HH-2/2z:

HH-2/2z, the first of two new horizontal wells in the field's Portland oil pool, is designed to be retained as a future production well, capable of delivering flow rates significantly higher than the previously reported 362 barrels of oil per day from the HH-1 vertical Portland discovery well. Following a planned extensive HH-2z production flow-testing campaign, both HH-2z Portland and the HH-1 Kimmeridge well are expected to be put into long term production by the end of 2019.

Stephen Sanderson, UKOG's Chief Executive, commented:
"The HH-2 coring programme, a key step towards delivering the correct placement of HH-2z's horizontal section within the field's most oil productive interval, now also has the welcome task of helping confirm a deeper oil water contact. If correct, the deeper contact will have a potentially significant positive impact upon oil in place and recoverable volumes, a welcome development."

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