UK oil and gas explorer EnCore Oil has announced a new North Sea oil find at its Cladhan field.
Cladhan is located 225 miles north-east of Aberdeen, in 536 feet water depth. It is thought that the field may hold reserves of between 100 million and 200 million barrels.
The Cladhan announcement follows the discovery of the 300 million barrel Catcher field, which was identified in June and in which EnCore also has a stake.
EnCore, which started drilling at the Cladhan site in August, will now drill horizontally to determine the size of the field.
Commenting on the find, Alan Booth, EnCore's chief executive officer, said: “This is a superb result from Cladhan and is at the upper end of our expectations regarding the quality and quantity of reservoir sands. This result supports the idea that Cladhan is a significant stratigraphic trap which has still not encountered an oil water contact.”
He continued: “Aside from this exceptional result at Cladhan, we are hopeful of returning to Catcher this autumn, dependent on the signing of a suitable rig contract which is nearing agreement, but not yet confirmed.
“The group will target between two and four further locations on the Catcher block which, as with Cladhan, will help determine the size of the overall discovery and future development options. This is a really exciting time for EnCore and we look forward to the results over the coming months.”
EnCore owns a 17 per cent stake in Cladhan. Sterling, the operator of the Cladhan licence, owns a 40 per cent stake, German oil firm Wintershall owns 34 per cent and Netherlands-based oil and gas company Dyas owns 10 per cent.
EnCore Oil is listed on AIM and has a portfolio of assets based primarily in the UK Continental Shelf.
EnCore shares have more than tripled since Catcher was first discovered in June.
