倫敦蓋特威克機場附近發現1000億桶原油儲量

London (AFP) - An oil exploration firm said Thursday that it had discovered 100 billion barrels of oil in the ground nextto Gatwick Airport outside London.

倫敦（法新社）——一家石油勘探公司週四說在倫敦郊外的蓋特威克機場附近發現了1000億桶的原油儲量。

Although only between three and 15 percent of the total is likely to be extractable, UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG)said the Horse Hill well in Surrey, southwest England, was a "world class potential resource".

雖然可能只有3%到15%的原油可開採，英國油氣投資公司稱英格蘭西南部薩里郡的這個馬山油井是一個"世界級的潛在資源"。

"We think we've found a very significant discovery here, probably the largest (onshore in the UK) in thel ast 30 years, and we think it has national significance," Stephen Sanderson, the firm's chief executive, told the BBC.

我們認爲我們有了一個非常重大的發現，可能是過去30年來在英國陸地上的最大發現，我覺得這具有全國性的意義,"該公司的首席執行官對BBC說。

For a comparison, a total of around 42billion barrels of oil have been extracted from the North Sea sine e the first licences were issued there in 1964.

作爲比較，北海油田自1964年開採以來也纔開採了大約420億桶的原油。

UKOG said the controversial technique off racking should not be necessary to extract oil from the 55-square-mile(88-square-kilometre) site in Surrey.

該公司稱，不一定要採用水力壓裂法來開採這塊88平方公里的油田。

Its finding comes despite the British Geological Survey, a government organisation, reporting last year that the region may only have between 2.2 and 8.5 billion barrels of oil.

而政府機構英國地質調查所去年發佈報告稱該地區可能只有22到85億桶原油儲量。

Industry body United Kingdom Onshore Oiland Gas (UKOOG) said more testing was needed to see how mu the oil couldbe extracted from the ground.

行業機構英國陸上油氣組織稱還需要進行更多的測試以確定到底能從中抽取多少石油。

"These initial results suggest a very large volume of oil in place, which could potentially help to stem the rise inoil imports and improve Britain euro trade's energy security and balance of payments," its chief executive Ken Cronin added.

“初步結果顯示裏面存在大量石油，從而有利於抑制石油進口的增長以及英國的能源安全和國際收支平衡，”該組織的首席執行官如是說。

Some 2,000 oil wells have been drilled in Britain since the 19th century and 250 are still operational, producing between 20,000 and 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

自19世紀以來，英國大約有2000個油井得到開採，其中250個仍然在運營中，每天生產20000到25000桶原油。