Gatwick oil-find firm raises barrel estimate to 124 billion

UKOG drilled a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick Airport

An oil firm that predicted there were 100 billion barrels of oil under south-east England has raised its estimate to 124 billion.

In April, UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG) drilled a well at Horse Hill, Surrey near Gatwick airport, and announced the find.

It has since raised its estimate, following analysis done by US company Nutech.

However, critics said the oil will be hard to reach and may require fracking.

Stephen Sanderson, chief executive of UKOG, denied the new figure was an "educated guess".

"It's actually the result of a very rigorous scientific study utilising 86 wells by arguably the world's leading experts in the field," he said.

'May need fracturing'

UKOG hopes that between 3-8% of the oil is recoverable, meaning nearly 10 billion barrels could possibly be produced.

The North Sea has produced about 45 billion barrels in 40 years.

Richard Davies, a petroleum geologist at Newcastle University, said: "We've known about [the rock layers] for many decades and these wells were drilled, many of them, a long time ago.

"To get a small percentage of 124 billion barrels out of the ground, these rock layers, which are tight, will need to be stimulated.

"In other words they may have to be fractured to give up the oil and gas."

Brenda Pollack, from Friends of the Earth, warned of the dangers of fracking.

She said: "We really question whether the government and oil and gas industry should continue pursuing this reckless path."