Weald Basin (south-east England) shale basin
Weald Basin (south-east England) is one of the UK onshore shale basins on Brent & Beyond. Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay, Oxford Clay and Lias mudstones; mostly too immature for gas, so the play is oil (mainly in tight limestones).
Gas in place is not recoverable gas. No UK recovery factor has been established; years of supply need a recovery factor first.
| Nation | England |
|---|---|
| Play | Mainly oil (Jurassic) |
| Gas in place | no official estimate |
| Oil in place | 4.4 bn bbl (P50) |
| Recoverable | No official recoverable figure. BGS: possibly little or no free oil; recovery may be very low. |
| Status | No shale fracking. Conventional-style oil wells only; Horse Hill production halted after the 2024 ruling. |
| On the map from | May 2014: BGS/DECC Weald Basin Jurassic shale study published 23 May 2014 (Balcombe 2013 and Horse Hill 2014 targeted conventional/tight oil, not shale) |
Wells and licences
- 2013: Balcombe (Cuadrilla), West Sussex: vertical oil exploration well, not fracked; large summer protests.
- 2019: Horse Hill (UKOG), Surrey: production consent for oil from naturally fractured Kimmeridge limestone, not fracked (acid used to clean the wellbore).
- Jun 2024: Supreme Court (Finch): the Horse Hill consent was unlawful because the EIA ignored emissions from burning the oil.
- 2024–25: Horse Hill production suspended after the ruling.
Source: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/jurassic-shale-of-the-weald-basin-resource-estimation/ · date: source