text: A firm which declared that the South of England harboured as much oil as the North Sea has been forced to backtrack on its ‘wild claims’. Last week, UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) boasted it had discovered a ‘world class potential resource’ beneath the Home Counties. The oil exploration company claimed analysis of a well near Gatwick Airport suggested 100 billion barrels of oil lay beneath the Weald Basin, covering Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Kent. UK Oil & Gas Investments has backtracked on its claims the UK could be sitting on an oil reserve larger than what has been extracted from the North Sea and Kuwait. Above, the company's test oil well at Horse Hill . Sceptics immediately queried the bold claims – as the Daily Mail reported – but UKOG’s millionaire chairman David Lenigas insisted at the time that the oil would create thousands of jobs, saying: ‘If you own a farm or land in the Weald, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a bucket-load of oil under there.’ Now the firm has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn, admitting that it cannot be sure how much crude lies beneath the region – if, indeed, there is much at all. 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. But after finding oil in the area, it scaled up its findings across the whole 1,100-square mile Weald area. The company has now admitted that its estimates were based on findings made in a 55-square-mile stretch of the basin, less than two per cent of the total surface area . A map showing the location of the oil and gas deposits within the Weald Basin, which are thought to lie at between 2,500ft and 3,000ft below the ground . It claimed the entire region was rich with the fossil fuel, sparking hopes it had uncovered ‘Britain’s Dallas’. Yesterday, after being instructed to give more details by the London Stock Exchange, it issued a ‘clarification’, admitting the oil should not yet be considered as ‘prospective resources or reserves’. It said further drilling and well testing was needed before it could say how much oil existed on its own site – let alone surrounding areas – and what could be recovered from the ground. David Lenigas has been criticised on the past for exaggerating his companies' successes to drive up share prices . Even then, it seems unlikely it could estimate how much lies beneath the whole region, adding: ‘The company has not undertaken work outside its licence areas sufficient to comment on the possible OIP (oil in place) in either the approximate 1,100 square miles or the whole of the Weald Basin.’ Brenda Pollack, of Friends of the Earth, said: ‘UKOG has backtracked on the wild claims it made last week and admitted that it has no idea how much oil is under the Sussex Weald. ‘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.’ Following the announcement of a ‘significant’ discovery on April 8, UKOG’s share price soared from about 1p to over 4p the next day. But since then, the price has fallen to almost half this, suggesting scepticism in the industry about the claims. UKOG had claimed the supply could meet up to a third of Britain’s oil demand within 15 years. It 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. But the claims were at odds with other research on the Weald Basin. A study by Imperial College London suggested a maximum of 40billion barrels in the region, while the British Geological Survey estimated the basin held just 4.4billion barrels of shale oil. 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. UKOG boss Mr Lenigas, an Australian who lives in Monaco, is a director of seven British companies and has been criticised in the past for exaggerating the success of his enterprises to jack up share prices.
target: UK Oil & Gas Investments described discovery as 'world class' last week .
  They claimed the site in Sussex could yield up to 100 billion barrels of oil .
  Company's share price increased by 200 per cent following 'breakthrough'
  But it has today admitted there may not be as much oil there as suggested .
  They based their estimates on the 55-square-miles they have licence for .
  It makes up for less than two per cent of the entire Weald Basin .