EnCore Oil ..

Well Jameel, as I see it:

The UK is desperately short of gas storage (and onshore storage is hard to get the go ahead for because of planning and safety regs). If this weren't bad enough, there are worries about our gas supplies being controlled overseas - ie. the Russians.

Today's announcement means that Star are going to pay to check out whether one of Encore's licences (Forbes) can be used to store gas offshore. Basically it is an old 'well' that held a load of gas (and in fact still does) and can be topped up to store gas. Star are going to assess this by the end of June. If it looks ok, they can buy in and move this forward. Peakoiler thinks there is a chance that if Forbes is a goer then there are two other areas (Esmond and Gordon) that would look similar. Encore own both of these as well.

Gas storage really is a hot topic. Take a look at Egdon Resources (127m market cap - most of it based on their gas storage project onshore in the South of England). Offshore costs a bit more I believe, but is a lot safer and therefore more likely to get permission (if it is needed at all) to be used for storage.

Gordon Brown is big on this as well - using old wells....

Very, very interesting development in my opinion.

Any other views?

Cheers

Del