London-listed Europa Oil & Gas has delayed drilling at its Holmwood prospect at Bury Hill Wood, southern England, after the local council requested additional information before giving the company a green light.

Europa is waiting for approval to drill a conventional oil exploration well on in PEDL143 to test the Holmwood prospect, which is located nearby the Horse Hill-1 well in PEDL137.

However, the Surrey County Council Planning and Regulatory Committee, so far, has only approved a planning application for a security fence for the drill site. The planning committee elected to defer a decision on drilling and requested further information on traffic management.

Europa said it will consult with its joint venture partners and advisers and respond to the local council.

“As a consequence of the deferred decision, the company advises that it anticipates operations to drill the Holmwood conventional oil exploration well will now commence in the first half of 2018,” Europa said.

Drilling was previously expected to start by the end of this year.

Holmwood lies about 12 kilometres to the west of Horse Hill-1 well in PEDL137 where UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) has reported combined average flows of over 1688 barrels of oil per day from Upper and Lower Kimmeridge limestone reservoirs and the Upper Portland sandstone reservoir during flow tests.

The Holmwood well will penetrate similar stratigraphy to Horse Hill and will target oil in the Upper and Lower Kimmeridge limestones in addition to Corallian and Portlandian sandstone.

Europa operates the licence with a 20% interest, alongside UKOG with a 30% share, Egdon Resources on18.4%, Angus Energy with 12.5%, Warwick Energy 10%, Union Jack Oil 7.5% and Altwood Petroleum 1.6%.

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Europa delays Holmwood drilling