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The UK has struck oil...

Quite literally. There could be 158 million barrels worth of the stuff beneath Gatwick Airport alone.

shutterstock_183221429 Shutterstock / xtock Shutterstock / xtock / xtock

BRITAIN MAY HAVE discovered an oil deposit beneath the south of England containing the equivalent of 100 billion barrels.

After exploratory drilling last year at Horse Hill near Gatwick Airport UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOGI), the expoloration firm responsible, have confirmed that that particular drill-site alone could yield up to 158 million barrels.

The find would represent the biggest oil strike in the UK for at least the last 30 years.

horse hill The location of the find, at Horse Hill, just south of Central London. Google Maps Google Maps

To put the 100 billion barrel figure into context, that is more than twice the amount of oil produced by Britain’s north sea oil drilling platform over the last 40 years.

Stephen Sanderson, CEO of UKOGI, has deemed the find a ‘possible world class potential resource’ in a an investor briefing note.

Sanderson does admit however that geological factors mean that a maximum of 15% of the oil vein is likely to be recovered.  That could still leave this particular oil find providing up to 30% of the UK’s demand by 2030.

easyJet launch new Moscow route Gatwick Airport, Sussex, close to where the oil was discovered. Steve Parsons / PA Steve Parsons / PA / PA

“Based on what we’ve found here, we’re looking at between 50 and 100 billion barrels of oil in place in the ground,” Sanderson told the BBC.

We think we’ve found a very significant discovery here, probably the largest onshore in the UK in the last 30 years, and we think it has national significance.

Onshore oil production is nothing new in the south of England.

It has been conducted in the Weald area (a region spanning Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire. and also where Horse Hill is located) for decades.

Currently, there are around a dozen oil production sites situated in the area.

The discovery is certainly good news for the consumer.

Despite recent falls in the price of oil given a worldwide production glut, long-term prices for oil and gas are expected to rise unless energy companies start discovering more of the resources or finding better production methods.

Read: Big Oil is about to get even bigger

Read: The guys who own our gas lines are to offer their first apprenticeships in 30 years

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    Mute Pierce Fox
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    Dec 21st 2016, 4:14 PM

    The F1 was the first car made by McLaren.. was also the fastest production car in it’s time. Bitta fact checking or get someone who knows cars to write about them

    http://cars.mclaren.com/F1-the-story

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 23rd 2016, 8:07 PM

    @Pierce Fox: The first car made by McLaren was the M1A. Only 64 standard road versions of the F1 were produced and they were priced at £634,500. Therefore they were not realistically made for the everyday buyer. There were over 4,000 examples of the 12C produced with an asking price of £168,500 making them much more attainable and therefore the first McLaren made for the everyday car buyer, as I said in the article. I never said the 12C was the first car McLaren made nor that it was the fastest production car. But thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.

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