Located in the onshore Weald Basin, the well will be drilled by PEDL 098 operator Northern Petroleum (listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market).

Black Rock Oil & Gas, an AIM-listed UK-based company led by Australian Ivan Burgess is among the other partners.

Sandhills-2 is the first of up to three UK wells in which Magellan will participate over the next 12 months.

The Sandhills-2 drilling and evaluation program will assess the significance of oil shows which were intersected, but not tested, in the Sandhills-1 well drilled in 1982.

It will target the reservoir section in the Jurassic-aged Great Oolite formation where it is expected to intersect similar hydrocarbon shows.

The Oolite has become an oil producer in other areas of southern England.

The program will provide for the acquisition of full hole core across the upper part of the Great Oolite, a complete suite of wireline logs, and production testing of the target interval once drilling is complete.

Magellan will return to the Great Oolite formation in the near future with planned drilling programs in PEDLs 125 and 126, located in the Weald and Wessex basins and shared 50% with Northern Petroleum.

Interests in Sandhills-2 are Northern Petroleum 62.5%, Magellan Petroleum 22.5%, Oil Quest 5%, Black Rock 5%, and Montrose Industries 5%.