United Oil & Gas has confirmed a "significant commercial discovery" from a well in the Selva gas field in northern Italy, with a production concession application to the Italian Ministry planned for submission before the end of first half of 2018
The group said on Friday that local operator Po Valley Energy had reported strong gas flows resulting from successful flow testing of the recently drilled the Podere Maiar 1 (PM1) exploration well on the Podere Gallina Exploration license, of which United holds a 20% interest.

Po Valley reportedly intersected and identified two gas reservoirs, C1 and C2, in the medium-upper Pliocene sands of the Porto Garibaldi Formation which returned net pays of between 15.5m and 25.5m.

United felt that both the 99.1% methane gas content and the well's 600m proximity to the Italian national gas grid pipeline connection, confirmed the well's status as a commercial discovery.

Brian Larkin, managing director of United, said: "This result is a significant development milestone for our business. The flow test results exceeded our pre-drill expectations and we are now on the road to production. Po Valley will now incorporate this well-test data into the development plan and submit it as part of the application to the Italian authorities to convert a portion of the existing exploration licence into an exploitation licence."

As of 0920 GMT, shares had advanced 9.03% to 5.48p.

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