Cluff Farms into UK Verus Licences

UK explorer Cluff Natural Resources (CLNR) says it has signed terms with Aberdeen-based Verus Petroleum to acquire up to a 25% interest in three licences in the UK Central North Sea and Moray Firth, The licences contain two “drill-ready” prospects – Skerryvore and Fynn – operated by Parkmead Group, which estimates their gross potential at 400mn bbls recoverable oil.

“These proposed acquisitions complement our existing five licences in the [UK] Southern North Sea which demonstrated significant gas potential,” said CLNR founding chairman and CEO Algy Cluff.

CLNR last month signed a memo of understanding with US services giant Halliburton for a two-year extension of their collaboration on the UK firm’s Southern North Sea gas interests and Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) – despite CLNR halting work earlier this year on its main UCG project offshore Kincardine in Fife, Scotland, in favour of developing its SNS gas licences.

Scotland introduced a moratorium on UCG last October lasting until at least spring 2017. CLNR has nine UCG licences in the UK, of which six in England and Wales were unaffected by the moratorium.  However investors in UCG are likely to need gas prices higher than today’s $4/mn Btu UK levels.

Mark Smedley