article_snippet.sent: A firm which declared that the South of England harboured as much oil as the North Sea has been forced to backtrack on the North Sea
article_snippet.sent: Last week, UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) boasted UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) had discovered a ‘world class potential resource’ beneath the Home Counties.
article_snippet.sent: UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) has backtracked on UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG)
article_snippet.sent: claims UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) could be sitting on an oil reserve larger than what has been extracted from the North Sea and Kuwait.
article_snippet.sent: Above, UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG)'s test oil well at Horse Hill .
article_snippet.sent: Sceptics immediately queried its claims – as the Daily Mail reported – but UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG)
article_snippet.sent: ’s millionaire chairman David Lenigas insisted at the time that UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) would create thousands of jobs, saying: ‘If you own a farm or land in the Weald, there’s a pretty good chance
article_snippet.sent: Now the firm has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn, admitting that the firm cannot be sure how much crude lies beneath the region – if, indeed, there is much at all.
article_snippet.sent: UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) and a consortium of other oil firms hold a licence for just 55 square miles in Surrey and Sussex, a tiny fraction of the Weald Basin.
article_snippet.sent: ’ Brenda Pollack, of Friends of the Earth, said: ‘UKOG has backtracked on the wild claims UKOG made last week and admitted that UKOG has no idea how much oil is under the Sussex Weald.
article_snippet.sent: This is yet another example of the potential for shale oil and gas being overhyped by an industry desperate to start pumping profits with little concern for residents or the climate.
article_snippet.sent: UKOG had claimed the supply could meet up to a third of Britain’s oil demand within 15 years.
article_snippet.sent: UKOG ignited hopes the vast resource would reduce reliance on oil from the Middle East and Russia, and boost British industry as the North Sea supply dwindles.
article_snippet.sent: Professor Alastair Fraser, of Imperial College, said last week that UKOG’s claims were ‘overly-optimistic’, while Malcolm Graham-Wood, of oil consultancy firm HydroCarbon Capital, said it would be difficult to drill the green belt area to extract the fossil fuel.
highlights_snippet.sent: UK Oil & Gas Investments described discovery as 'world class' last week .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: UK Oil & Gas Investments based UK Oil & Gas Investments
highlights_snippet.sent: estimates on the 55-square-miles UK Oil & Gas Investments have licence for .
  