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Europa Oil & Gas Holdings plc (LSE:EOG) is to formally open a data room to attract partners in the exploration of its 2,000-square kilometre offshore licence south west of Ireland four months after the company declared two prospects to be “potentially hydrocarbon-bearing”.
The move comes after the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration and production company has concluded the reprocessing of its seismic data over the Kiernan prospect that resulted in the discovery of three reservoirs.
In a statement issued earlier today, Europa said the Kiernan prospect holds a total of 1.612 billion barrels of oil or 9.7 trillion cubic feet of gas mean unrisked indicative resources lying deep within its 100% controlled licence.
Shares of Europa jumped as much as 12.9% to 12.71 pence a few minutes after trading opened in London earlier this morning, following the report, a 16-month high for the London-based firm.
Europa’s share price, which at one point peaked at 41.25 pence in February 2011 sunked to as low as 5 pence in July 2012 and doubled in September after saying it has identified two prospects that exceeded expectations after initial assessment.
Kiernan is one of the two prospects identified by Europa within the two licences located in the South Porcupine Basin offshore of Ireland about 150 kilometres from the nearest shore.
In November 2012, the Mullen prospect was reported by the company to have a mean indicative resource of about 318 million barrels of oil.
Europa had since announced it is seeking partners to farm-in or establish a joint venture to share the burden of further exploring the said prospects and had presented the case of Mullen and Kiernan at the 2012 Atlantic Ireland Conference in Dublin to attract interested parties.
“We will now be opening a data room for both our Irish Licences, with a view to securing a joint venture partner or partners with whom we can further mature both Mullen and Kiernan,” Europa’s Chief Executive, Hugh Mackay, stated.
The CEO reiterated his position on the potential of the two prospects, noting that ExxonMobil’s exploration well is about to be drilled between Europa’s licences.
