OIL bosses have vowed to carry on in their efforts to extract what could be up to $7 billion (£3.5 billion) of oil from under Hampshire, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Directors of Northern Petroleum have not given up on the oil field below Hedge End - which they estimate could yield up to 125 million barrels - despite the scheme being blocked by county council leader Ken Thornber.

Crude oil is currently being traded for 55 US dollars a barrel but experts believe the price could rise as high as 70 US dollars by this summer, bringing the total worth nearer $9 billion.

Cllr Thornber stopped the plan for three exploratory wells on farmland at Woodhouse Lane on the Hedge End and Botley border in its tracks on Thursday, as reported in yesterday's Daily Echo.

The land is owned by the county council.

Advice from his officers, which has been seen by the Daily Echo, failed to mention how much oil could lie under the site.

Royalties from any extraction at Hedge End would go to central government.

Now Northern Petroleum is pledging to get to the black gold.

Managing director Derek Musgrove told the Daily Echo: "We will continue efforts to find a satisfactory way to test and extract the oil which we strongly believe lies under Hedge End, working in partnership with Hampshire County Council."

The company is keeping tight-lipped about its plans to get at the oil - part of the Great Oolite formation which sits under the centre of Hedge End.

The company's planning application, which included a 36m mast and 24-hour drilling for up to seven weeks for each of the three exploratory wells just yards from homes and Berrywood Primary School, sparked fierce opposition.

Hundreds of residents and parents at the school - which has a border 250 metres from the edge of the proposed site - packed public meetings to drive home their Say No campaign.

Today Northern Petroleum was refusing to comment on whether the planning application would go ahead next month - even though there is no prospect of the county council allowing use of the Woodhouse Lane land.

Mr Musgrove also refused to elaborate on what the company intended to do next.

THE Hedge End oil was discovered in 1988 by an exploration well next to junction seven of the M27.

At the time it was not considered suitable for further testing - a decision believed to have been taken due to poor oil prices at the time.

However, Northern Petroleum's website says: "More recently Northern has materially revised the methods for interpretation of logs in the Great Oolite formations in the Weald Basin and as a result believes that Hedge End-1 (the previous exploratory drill) was an oil discovery of 50 to 125 million barrels of oil in place."

Finding and development costs can range from three to 14 dollars a barrel, but it is believed the costs for Hedge End would be at the lower end of the scale.

The site of the previous well is no longer available but Eastleigh Council leader Keith House believes there are other sites, particularly on the south side of the M27, where the oil could be accessed without causing waves.

He said: "I don't think these issues have been explored well enough. If the county land is not going to be made available other sites need to be carefully considered."

He added: "If the oil is going to be accessed it can only be done in a way that doesn't inconvenience or threaten any of the resident communities."