UK Overview

The Wessex Basin - onshore southern England

Norwest Energy has interests in three adjacent project areas in southern England’s Wessex Basin.

While southern England is not generally recognised as having significant potential for oil and gas discoveries, this underexplored region contains Western Europe’s largest onshore oil field – the BP-operated Wytch Farm – which has estimated original reserves of 500MMbbl (400MMbbl produced to date).

Since Wytch Farm’s discovery in 1973, no other significant oil field has been found in the Wessex Basin, which remains underexplored. Onshore England has been overshadowed by the higher North Sea petroleum province, but as working the North Sea becomes more difficult and more expensive, this is likely to change. Norwest’s UK acreage is close to Wytch Farm and the company believes it has done well to secure prime acreage in the Wessex Basin at this time.

Another reason for the limited exploration in Wessex Basin is its high population and dense development. While undertaking seismic in such areas is logistically difficult and expensive, Norwest’s expertise in various forms of gravity gradiometry surveys has proved invaluable in this region. Preliminary survey results have been very positive and indicate that Norwest’s geological model for the basin is sound.