Jersey Oil & Gas Plc, (LSE:JOG) the developer of the Buchan oil area, said today that its Buchan redevelopment plan is being reworked. Interim results for the six months ended the 30th of June showed no revenue and a loss of £826,904.
Chief executive Andrew Benitz set out the company’s position on the policy backdrop.
“New investments into long term projects like the Greater Buchan Area redevelopment require confidence in a supportive regulatory and fiscal system that prioritises domestic energy.”
Andrew Benitz, chief executive, Jersey Oil & Gas
The draft development plan lodged with the regulator, the NSTA, had centred on redeploying the Western Isles FPSO. The company is now screening other FPSOs, reworking the drilling and subsea design, and reopening talks in the coming months with owners of nearby discoveries about tie-backs. That work runs into 2027, and the joint venture is setting next year’s plan and budget.
Jersey holds 20% of licences P2498 and P2170, which together make up the Greater Buchan Area. Its gross mid-case resources there are about 100m barrels of oil equivalent.
Operating costs for the half rose about 5.7%, and the loss widened about 18.6% from the same period a year earlier. The loss per share was 2.53p, against 2.13p.
| £ thousand | H1 2025 | H1 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating costs | 938.6 | 992.1 |
| Cash costs excluding share option charges | 765.5 | 764.6 |
| Loss | 697.3 | 826.9 |
Cash costs were flat. The increase came from non-cash share option charges of £227,508, up from £173,037, after existing options vested.
The balance sheet is the cushion. Jersey held £10.1m at the period end, made up of £321,584 in cash and £9,800,000 in term deposits, with no debt. Its 20% share of Buchan costs is fully carried by partners NEO NEXT+ and Serica, and the company says it meets the going concern test even if Buchan does not proceed. Absent changes, it expects annual cash running costs to stay under a forecast £1.5m.
The next catalysts are regulatory and political. The second term on P2170 was extended by about six months to the 28th of February 2027, in line with P2498, and Benitz said the company is “actively engaged with the regulator on the planned activities to support our licence extension requests, which will be submitted later this year.”
The Autumn Budget also looms. A further $20m is payable only after the NSTA approves the field development plan and regulatory and legal consents are in place, so it is not yet in the bank.