UK SHALE EXPLORATION
AJ Lucas has a long and proven history of investing in the exploration for, and commercialisation of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources. Of note is our investment and subsequent sale of two licences in Australia. In 2002, we acquired an interest in PEL285 in the Gloucester Basin and in 2003 we acquired an interest in APT651 in the Surat Basin. We subsequently sold our interests in 2008 and 2009 respectively, having demonstrated the potential commercialisation of the resource.
More recently AJ Lucas has made significant investment in unlocking value in the untapped unconventional Oil and Gas resources of the UK. We hold interests in certain licences directly, and indirectly through our 96% shareholding in Cuadrilla Resources Holdings Limited (also known as “Cuadrilla”).
Further information on our licence holdings is available under Licence Holdings.
Current Focus
In recent years, the focus for AJ Lucas has been our investment in the highly prospective Bowland licence located in Lancashire, United Kingdom. This licence holds potential shale rock of a kilometre in thickness in the upper and lower Bowland.
Together with our partners, Cuadrilla and Spirit Energy, a subsidiary of Centrica PLC, we have shot and processed 100km of 3D seismic and have drilled 3 vertical wells in the exploration licence area. We undertook a program drilling, fracking and flow testing of a further two horizontal wells at the Preston New Road site over 2018 and 2019. These wells were the first horizontal wells to be drilled and tested in UK shale rock. Our programme was halted by a Moratorium on hydraulic fracturing imposed by the UK Government.
A recent interview undertaken by Francis Egan, CEO of UK operations is available on the following link.
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