The Burton on the Wolds oilfield

Forget fracking: we have struck oil in Leicestershire.

Energy Business Review has the story:

Egdon Resources received a planning consent from Leicestershire County Council to drill an exploratory borehole on the Burton on the Wolds prospect in the UK onshore petroleum exploration and production license PEDL201, south of Widmerpool Gulf geological basin. 

A 2D seismic data identified two targets with a conventional oil prospect at two distinct Carboniferous stratigraphic levels. 

Egdon will drill the shallower target, Rempstone sandstone, and a deeper secondary target underlying a seismic anomaly, which is indicative of a carbonate reef. 

The mean combined prospective resources for these two targets are estimated to be 3.8 million barrels of oil.

You can hear the doyen of the county's Liberal Democrats, David "J.R." Bill giving the news a cautious welcome on BBC Radio Leicester.

Besides, oil is already extracted in Leicestershire. And the Nottinghamshire oilfield was of strategic importance in World War II.

Incidentally, I was once stung by a bee in Burton of the Wolds. But I still wish the village well and hope the this exploration does not prove too intrusive.