A new study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) suggests there are several billion barrels of oil in shale rocks under large parts of southern England, including Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.
The British Geological Survey in association with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has completed an estimate for the amount of shale oil and shale gas in the Weald Basin in south-east England.
The range of shale oil in place is estimated to be between 2.20 and 8.57 billion barrels (bbl) or 293 and 1143 million tonnes, but the central estimate for the resource is 4.4 billion bbl or 591 million tonnes.
No significant gas resource is recognised using the current geological model - mainly because the shale is not thought to have reached the geological maturity required to generate gas.
The figure for oil represents the total amount of oil present in the rocks. At present it is not known what percentage of the oil present in the shale could be commercially extracted.
(Photo:British Geological Survey©NERC)
The Weald Basin has a long history of oil and gas exploration; there are 13 producing sites in the basin, some almost 30 years old. Hydrocarbons were first produced in the 19th century. The results of the study are based upon detailed seismic mapping of (7,600 miles) and from 248 existing oil and gas wells.
BGS says that in order to estimate the shale oil reserve, drilling and testing of new wells will be required to give a better idea of oil production rates. Non-geological factors such as oil price, operating costs and the scale of development agreed by the local planning system would also affect the amount of oil produced.
This is the second detailed BGS report summarising the background geological knowledge and resource assessment of the UK’s shale gas basins. These are creating preliminary in-place resource calculations for three study areas in Britain.
The first study, published in June, reviewed the Bowland-Hodder shales across Northern England, which covers 11 counties in the North of England. The central scenario estimates there is likely to be some 40 trillion cubic metres (1,300 trillion cubic feet) of shale gas in the ground.
The third study, which covers the Midland Valley of Scotland, is now underway and will be completed in the summer - estimates will be made for both the oil and gas ‘in-place resources' of the Carboniferous strata of central Scotland.
Click here to read the full report on the Weald Basin
Photo:British Geological Survey©NERC
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