Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc /
Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
23 January 2020
Europa Oil &
Gas (Holdings) plc (‘Europa’ or ‘the Company’)
Ireland Farm-out
Update
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the UK and Ireland focused oil and gas exploration,
development and production company, provides an update on the
farm-out process in respect of the Company’s 100% owned Frontier
Exploration Licences (FELs) 4/19, 1/17 and 3/13 (‘the Licences’)
offshore Ireland.
As announced on 29 October 2019,
the Company has been in farm-out discussions with a number of
parties in relation to the above Licences, including negotiations
with the NW Europe division of a
major oil company (the 'Major') which had been ongoing for more
than twelve months. The Major has now informed the Company
that, as part of a wider strategic review, the Licences are no
longer under consideration for farm-in.
Discussions with several other parties regarding the farm-out of
the Licences are continuing. The Company is prioritising
securing a partner to drill its flagship prospect in Ireland, the Inishkea prospect which lies on
FEL 4/19 in the Slyne basin. Inishkea is located close to the
~1tcf producing Corrib gas field and associated
infrastructure. The Company therefore regards Inishkea as
lower risk “infrastructure-led” exploration and has assigned gross
unrisked prospective resources of 1.5tcf and an estimated
geological chance of success of one in three to the prospect.
In tandem with ongoing farm-out discussions, the site survey
process for a drilling location at Inishkea is being advanced. The
Company hopes to obtain permission for the survey to be conducted
during summer 2020, which would enable drilling to occur during
2021.
Simon Oddie, Interim
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of
Europa, said: “With gross unrisked prospective gas resources of
1.5tcf, a one in three chance of success, a location in a proven
hydrocarbon region and lying close to the producing Corrib gas
field, Inishkea represents a compelling drill target, one that
continues to attract considerable interest from a number of
potential partners. While we cannot comment on timings for
the conclusion of ongoing discussions, we remain optimistic that we
will secure a partner for Inishkea with whom we can drill what has
the potential to be a transformational well for Europa.
“In the meantime, activity continues across our asset base
including working with our partners to bring the Wressle field in
the UK into production later this year at an initial gross rate of
500bopd as well as technical work in Morocco focused on reprocessing and
interpreting data to build a prospect inventory. I look
forward to providing further updates on our progress as we look to
advance our multi-stage portfolio of assets and in the process
generate value for our shareholders.”
* * ENDS * *
For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or
contact:
Simon Oddie |
Europa |
+ 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 |
Phil Greenhalgh |
Europa |
+ 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 |
Christopher Raggett |
finnCap Ltd |
+ 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Simon Hicks |
finnCap Ltd |
+ 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Frank Buhagiar |
St Brides Partners Ltd |
+ 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Megan Dennison |
St Brides Partners Ltd |
+ 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Notes
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio
of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets that includes production,
exploration and development interests, in countries that are
politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer
attractive terms. In 2019 Europa produced 88 bopd. Its highly
prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development in
the UK (targeting production start-up in 2020 at 500 bopd gross)
and six licences offshore Ireland
with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective
resources of 6.4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas
across all six licences. The Company’s flagship project offshore
Ireland is the Inishkea prospect –
a near field gas exploration project with 1.5 trillion cubic feet
(‘TCF’) gross mean un-risked prospective gas resources.