Sleepy West Sussex village strikes it lucky: It could be sitting on £300m oilfield

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 02:59 EST, 7 January 2011

A tiny village is thought to be sitting on an oilfield worth nearly £300million.

A firm has struck oil in the South Downs under the village of Forestside, West Sussex.

Northern Petroleum believes there may be five million barrels of crude under the village and plans to start extracting it.

Black gold: Northern Petroleum will do more tests on the well by installing a 'nodding donkey' pump, similar to those seen in Texas

At the current price of £58 ($90) a barrel, the reserve would be worth £290million.
The firm will do more tests on the well by installing a ‘nodding donkey’ pump, similar to those seen in Texas.

If successful, the oil would be extracted and then moved by lorry or underground pipe.

Managing director Derek Musgrove said: ‘The good thing is we’ve managed to drill it without great impact on the local community. Given that it is not in the North Sea and that you don’t have to spend hundreds of millions on platforms to get it out, then it’s a decent find.

Oil boom town: It's not quite Texas, but the Village of Forestside in West Sussex could be sitting on a fortune if Northern Petroleum confirm their oil find

‘The modern oil business is nothing like you see on John Wayne movies with oil gushing into the air. It’s less bothersome than farming – the crude is very sweet and doesn’t stink.’

It is by no means the first oil exploration in the south of England.

BP’s Wytch Farm field in Dorset has been producing oil since 1979 and Northern Petroleum has been extracting oil in Horndean, Hampshire, for 20 years.

Onshore: It is by no means the first oil exploration in the south of England. BP's Wytch Farm field in Dorset has been producing oil since 1979 and Northern Petroleum has been extracting oil in Horndean, Hampshire, for 20 years

The Queen gave permission for exploratory drilling in the grounds of Windsor castle in 1994.

Sandy Parker, 59, secretary of the Forestside Social Club, said: ‘We should have bought shares. It might be under my house because the drill curves under the ground.’