Egdon shares flat after increasing stake in North Yorkshire project
One of only two British shale exploration companies considered "investable" announced this morning that it had increased its stake in a North Yorkshire project.
Egdon Resources purchased a further 20 per cent interest in the Kirkleatham gas field near Redcar from DESS Energy. This takes its total stake to 60 per cent.
Sam Wahab of Cantor Fitzgerald said that "Egdon remains a compelling opportunity for long term investors" and reaffirmed a target price of 31p. Shares opened slightly higher at 13.50p before falling back 13.12p, down 0.94 per cent.
Kirkleatham is a conventional gas project (as opposed to a shale gas project) that has planning permission already established for two wells.
Read more: Government won't shale out on fracking payments for a while
Wahab stressed the importance of an exploration and appraisal on another Spring's Road site in Nottinghamshire is due on 5 October, in which Egdon has a 14 per cent stake.
"We believe this is particularly significant given that Springs Road is ideally located to test thick, gas-bearing in the Bowland Shale," he said.
In May this year, North Yorkshire county council approved operations by Third Energy in Kirby Misperton in Ryedale. It was the first such approval to be given since a ban on fracking was lifted in 2012.
Read more: Third Energy gets fracking go-ahead in North Yorkshire
Egdon has 34 proven licence bases across Britain and France having been set up in 1997.