Gatwick driller shares suspended

Shares in the half-dozen oil explorers at the Horse Hill development near Gatwick Airport have been suspended this morning pending an announcement. Those affected have issued statements claiming that a statement "is expected shortly". However, we're hearing that it may not be today.

The decision to halt trading at UK Oil & Gas, Solo Oil, Stellar Resources, Doriemus, Evocutis and Alba Minerals followed a sharp rise in share prices Wednesday afternoon.

UKOG - which has a 31% interest in Horse Hill Developments, owner of a 65% stake in licence PEDL137 in the UK Weald Basin - surged by as much as a quarter between lunchtime and the close of play. Both Stellar Resources and Alba Minerals surged by more than a third in the final 40 minutes of the session, while the others made double-digit gains.

That's what prompted the suspension. Clearly, the announcement has not received all the required sign-offs, but some investors had obviously got wind that something was up, so the suspension was required to avoid a disorderly market. A quick scan of the last five trades on Wednesday shows one trade of almost three million shares at 2.65p. Millions of Stellar shares went through the books, too.

We're told the shares are unlikely to begin trading again today, although the suspension is likely to be "very temporary". That's taken to mean no more than a couple of days.

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Ongoing analysis of the Horse Hill-1 well excited investors in March, as UKOG suggested it was sat on around 3.1 million barrels of gross oil. This was followed by over-optimistic claims that up to 100 billion barrels of oil could be in the ground. A subsequent clarification reaffirmed US-based Nutech's estimates that the Weald Basin had total oil in place of 158 million barrels per square mile.

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.