Egdon Resources plc (AIM:EDR) is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling operations at the Laughton-1 exploration well in UK Onshore Licence PEDL209 located in Lincolnshire.

The Laughton-1 well was spudded 12 February. The well will target a structural trap at a depth of over 1,500 metres defined on reprocessed two-dimensional seismic data. The Laughton Prospect has multiple conventional Carboniferous sandstone reservoir targets with the primary objective being the Silkstone Rock, an approximately 15 metre thick sandstone interval which is productive in the analogous Corringham Oil Field located five kilometres to the south-east. Two other potential reservoirs, the Kilburn Sandstone and the Wingfield Flags, will also be targeted by the well. The consolidated mean Prospective Resource volume for the three targets, is estimated by Egdon to be 1.3 million barrels of oil.

For clarity, the operations at the Laughton wellsite will not, either now or in the future, involve the process of High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for shale gas.

In January 2016 Egdon announced that Union Jack will earn a 10% interest in the Laughton-1 exploration well and two other conventional prospects in PEDL209, in return for paying 16.67% of the cost of the well. On completion of this transaction, the licence interests in the Laughton Prospect and the two other conventional prospects in PEDL209 will be:

Commenting on the start of drilling operations at Laughton-1, Mark Abbott, Managing Director of Egdon said:

“We are pleased to report the start of drilling at Laughton-1 and we look forward to updating shareholders with the preliminary results from the well in around one months’ time.  Onshore oil and gas projects remain commercially attractive even during a period of reduced commodity prices.  Egdon’s conventional exploration drilling programme remains a key part of our strategy, with successful exploration capable of delivering near-term additions to our production and revenue stream. ”