Unexplored oil and gas reserves lie off Rockall, scientists suggest

New reserves of oil and gas could be lying in areas around Scotland’s coast which were previously dismissed, scientists at the University of Aberdeen have said.

The team which examined rock formations around Rockall, 300 miles off the Western Isles, have identified areas for future exploration.

Previous attempts to find hydrocarbons in Rockall have been largely unsuccessful, with only one gas discovery out of 12 wells drilled.

Researchers believe misconceptions about the basin, 0 Nick Schofield says Rockall is a challenging environment as well as challenging weather conditions, and a lack of supporting infrastructure have hampered these exploration efforts.

Geologist Dr Nick Schofield said: “The Rockall Basin is one of the most challenging environments on earth when it comes to hydrocarbon explorations, but our analysis has revealed that one of the barriers to success may have been a misunderstanding of the subsurface geology.

“By analysing seismic data, and using what we have learned through our work in the Faroe-shetland Basin, we found that the character of areas where operators hoped to find oil may have been misleading.

The analysis was funded by a £250,000 award from the Oil and Gas Authority