Egdon has extensive operated and non-operated acreage interests in the Gainsborough Trough unconventional gas plays in the East Midlands.
On 4 November 2019 the government announced that it will introduce a temporary moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas.
With the lifting of the fracking moratorium in September 2022 maintain and explore our significant portfolio of unconventional resources assets in the Gainsborough Trough
We are the third largest net acreage holder in the Gainsborough Trough play with 82,000 net acres and a 2014 estimate of 20 TCF of net undiscovered Gas Initially In Place “pre-drill” (“GIIP”) in the shale prior to drilling Springs Road-1 and further tight gas potential.
This is shown on the map and chart below
2018 saw the commencement of unconventional exploration in the play at Tinker Lane which was drilled on the extremities of the play and failed to find the targeted Bowland shale in Q4. However the Tinker Lane well did encounter shales with a high gas content within the Millstone Grit sequence which may be positive for this play elsewhere in the Gainsborough Trough.
Egdon has a carried 14.5% interest in the second and third wells to be drilled in the basin at Springs Road operated by IGas Energy plc (follow Link to IGas Springs Road Project Site).
Springs Road-1 was spudded by IGas on 22 January 2019 and drilled to 3,500m after encountering all three pre-drill targets – the Bowland Shale, the Millstone Grit and the Arundian Shales.
A hydrocarbon bearing shale sequence of over 250 metres was encountered within the upper and lower Bowland Shale (as announced on 11 March 2019). In addition, significant gas indications were observed within the Millstone Grit sequence, deeper parts of the lower Bowland Shale and the Arundian shale.
The cores and wireline logs underwent a suite of analysis, the first results of which were announced 27th June 2019. These will give us further insight into the resource potential and shale characterisation that will be utilised for future appraisal and development of the wider East Midlands area.
IGas acquired 147 metres of core within the Bowland Shale, the first extensive core sample from this basin, which has subsequently been analysed by Stratum Reservoir (formerly Weatherford Labs) in their laboratories in both the UK and the USA.
The results from core analysis are extremely positive and confirm that a significant hydrocarbon resource is present in the Gainsborough Trough.
The key characteristics of the Bowland Shale in SR-01 compare favourably to commercial shale operations observed in North America such as the Permian and the Marcellus. The core results indicate a mature, organic rich source rock with good porosity confirming favourable gas resource density. In particular, the low clay content is encouraging and an indication that hydraulic fracturing of the rock should be effective.
The analysis conducted will help delineate the resource potential and help refine the subsequent appraisal programme. IGas, working with its joint venture partners, will now consider the attributes of the data set in order to commence planning for both the appraisal programme and pilot development within the Gainsborough Trough, including redefining the basin model.
We continue to be encouraged by the results from Springs Road-1, particularly the combined Bowland shale gas in place of 640 bcf/square mile (“the resource density”). This is more than three times Egdon’s previous external estimates of the mean resource density for the entire Bowland Shale section in PEDL139/140 as reported by ERCE in 2014.
The results from this extensive modern dataset demonstrate that the Bowland Shale of the Gainsborough Trough, where Egdon currently holds 82,000 net acres (128 square miles), compares favourably with some of the best US commercial shale plays and is potentially world class.
We look forward to sharing further data on the well as it become available, particularly on the secondary target, the tight gas sands of the Millstone Grit
The Springs Road drilling performance has been very encouraging with improved rates of penetration leading to better than anticipated drilling performance and lower costs.
A Springs Road core bubbling gas was posted to our Twitter feed and is shown below
Click on images to enlarge
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Egdon East Midlands Acreage
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Cross Section across basin |
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IGas Springs Road Wellsite March 2018 |
Note: This analysis is based upon the Bowland Shale play only. Encouraging results from the 2018 Tinker Lane well in the Millstone Grit sequence may render other more proximal licences prospective. |
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The results from the core analysis are extremely positive and confirm that a significant hydrocarbon resource is present in the Gainsborough Trough. Following further detailed analysis, the core results are as follows:
*volumetric estimates based on SR-01 data only, no regional data has been incorporated and as such does not account for thickness variations and reservoir heterogeneity within the basin. Secondary (Millstone Grit) and tertiary (Arundian shale) targets excluded.”
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