United Oil & Gas Plc has been provisionally awarded, in the UK Continental Shelf 30th Offshore Licensing Round, two highly prospective blocks in the Central North Sea, including the Crown Oil Discovery which could contain up to 16 million barrels of recoverable oil.

The Company has been provisionally awarded a 95% interest in Blocks 15/18d and 15/19b which cover an area of c. 13.6 sq km and contain multiple targets. The Blocks, which have been applied for in conjunction with private oil and gas exploration company Swift Exploration Ltd, are close to the substantial Piper, MacCulloch and Dumbarton/Donan oil fields.

Block 15/19b contains the Palaeocene Crown Discovery, which was made following the drilling of well 15/19-9 in 1998 by ConocoPhillips. United's internal estimates suggest a range in recoverable volumes for Crown of 4-16mmbbls oil, with mid-case estimates of 9mmbbls.

The Blocks have been awarded on the basis of a work programme involving seismic reprocessing to reduce the uncertainty on the estimated oil volumes and to optimise the location of any future development well.

The licence applications are part of the Company's strategy to identify and acquire exploration/development plays that offer investors near term value trigger opportunities and significant value upside.

United Oil & Gas Plc CEO, Brian Larkin, said, 
"We rated the Crown discovery our primary target in the 30(th) Round. This was based on the results of extensive technical work carried out over the available acreage ahead of the application. We are therefore looking forward to commencing the work programme which is focused on progressing the Crown Discovery towards development, as well as delineating additional prospectivity across both licences.

"The award of the blocks is part of the strategy of utilising our technical expertise to develop what we believe to be highly prospective opportunities. Crown is the latest addition to our growing portfolio of high grade targets in the UK, Italy, and offshore Jamaica that are at various stages of development and monetisation. We continue to evaluate further acquisition opportunities and with activity taking place across our portfolio in H2 2018, including appraisal drilling of the Colter Discovery, the next few months will not be short of high impact newsflow."