Projects
Sonorex Oil and Gas Ltd was incorporated as a limited company in England and Wales in October 2001 to specifically participate in the 10th UK Round of landward Licensing. The Company made application for the blocks ST47 and ST48 covering Portishead, Somerset and Caldicot, Gwent and the intervening area of the Severn Estuary. Sonorex was successful and in April 2002 HM Government granted the Company a six year exploration licence. During this period of time an agreed programme of exploration work was carried out.
In the 12th round of UK Landward Licensing Sonorex Oil and Gas Ltd was granted a further license in March 2005 for block ST38 covering the Newport, Gwent area. Under the terms of the licence blocks ST47 and ST48 were relinquished in November 2007 and a further licence PEDL224 was awarded in 2008, including block ST48.
During 2002 Terratech Ltd carried out an initial survey and Mark Smith made a geophysical study of the regional geology culminating in Nigel Smith of the British Geological Survey making a comprehensive report on the prospectivity of licence blocks ST47 and ST48. The report covers the regional geology of the area and the extensive exploration work carried out by Sovereign Energy and Cirque in the 1980s and 90s. The log of the Usk 1 Well (drilled by Sovereign in 1986) has been purchased and provides vital evidence on the underlying rock formations. Gas shows were recorded at 6000 feet.
Seismic data from the adjacent blocks shot by Sovereign in 1996 has also been purchased from UKOGL and have been tied into the seismic shot by Sonorex in 2006.
Play Overview
Rich source rocks and deep Mesozoic of the Welsh borderland. Potential reservoir rocks are provided in the sandstone deposits of transgressive episodes, with primary objectives in the Old Red Sandstones and Llandovery.
The Llandovery are sealed by the inter-bedded siltstones and shales, and overlying Wenlock sediments. The Cambrian sandstones are sealed by the Cambrian shales. TOC values are as high as 5% at outcrop with maturity for oil. Deep sediments have been subjected to burial and are believed to have reached the gas window, which is evidenced by the gas shows in Usk 1 Well.
A seismic survey, commissioned by Sonorex, was carried out in July/August 2006 by IMC Geophysics International Ltd. 32 line kms of seismic have been shot over ST38 and ST48 and have now been processed. The seismic lines were located to link the seismic shot by Sovereign - giving a sub surface overview of the underlying rock formations covering the area from Usk down to Severn Estuary.