Driller in search of Falklands oil riches

THE biggest-ever hunt for oil in the Falkland Islands is getting under way, as a London-listed start-up launches a bid to transform the British territory into a hotbed for energy giants.

Aim-listed Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) is spending the next three months seismic surveying and exploring eight 'leads' in a whopping 10,000-square kilometre zone in the South Atlantic.

If oil prices remain high, the company believes it could become a key production area.

Any success would transform the Falklands Islands' economy, currently based on sheep, squid and the only commercial herd of reindeer unaffected by the Chernobyl disaster.

FOGL has rights to an exploration zone covering 88,000 square kilometres south of the islands, equivalent to 280 blocks in the North Sea.

Shares in another London-listed company, Desire Petroleum, surged last month after it claimed to have found evidence of large oil and gas deposits to the north of the islands.

FOGL's shares have climbed 46% since floating at 48½p in October but it says any oil finds around the Falklands are at least a year off.