Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc /
Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
3 June 2016
Europa Oil &
Gas (Holdings) plc (‘Europa’ or ‘the Company’)
Offer of New
Offshore Ireland Licensing Options
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM listed oil and gas
exploration, development and production company focused on
Europe, is pleased to announce it
has been offered four new Licensing Options (‘LOs’) as part of
phase two of the 2015 Atlantic Ireland round in the southern
Porcupine Basin, the Padraig Basin and the Slyne Trough. This
follows the announcement on 3 June
2016 by Seán Kyne T.D., Minister of State for Natural
Resources at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural
Resources (‘DCENR’).
The Company understands it will shortly be issued with a formal
offer letter from DCENR, at which point Europa will confirm its
acceptance of the LOs. Once all the offers have been accepted
DCENR will publish a map showing the awarded LOs and the relevant
companies. Following the completion of a work programme,
Europa has the option to apply to the Irish authorities for their
consent to convert each LO into a full Frontier Exploration Licence
(‘FEL’).
Licence awards in the 2015 Atlantic Ireland round have been made
in two phases. Phase one announced on 11 February 2016 was for 14 Licensing Options and
involves eight companies: Eni, Europa, ExxonMobil, Nexen, Scotia,
Statoil and Woodside as operators, along with BP who will partner
with Eni. Europa was awarded LO 16/2 in phase one.
Phase two announced on 3 June 2016
is for 14 Licensing Options and involves 11 companies:
AzEire Petroleum, Capricorn Ireland, Europa Oil and Gas, Faroe
Petroleum, Petrel Resources, Predator Oil and Gas, Providence
Resources, Ratio Petroleum and Scotia Oil and Gas, all as
operators, along with Theseus who will partner Predator, and Sosina
Exploration who will partner Providence. Europa has been awarded four LOs
in phase two.
Europa CEO Hugh Mackay
said, “We are delighted with the offer of four Licensing
Options in phase two of the 2015 Atlantic Ireland round against
strong competition and further building our Irish licence
portfolio. Subject to formal award, we will have a diversified
portfolio of seven high impact exploration licences across three
basins in offshore Ireland and
representing a range of geological risk, hydrocarbon plays and
exploration maturity. We look forward to providing technical
information to the market once our offers have been formally
accepted. Europa has a leading position in the Atlantic basins of
Ireland; a region that has now
emerged as a global exploration hotspot with major and mid-cap oil
companies taking substantial acreage positions and associated work
programmes.
“Europa was one of the pioneer companies who have played a role
in reactivating industry interest in Atlantic Ireland and we feel
that the entry of majors and super-majors is providing validation
of our belief in Ireland’s exploration potential. This is a hugely
exciting moment for Europa and for the rest of the industry and we
hope that exploration momentum continues to build and that at some
point in the not too distant future the exploration potential is
realised with a significant discovery.”
FEL 2/13 and 3/13
Europa understands that formal documentation from the Irish
Authorities authorising the transfer of Kosmos Energy Ireland’s
interest and operatorship for FEL 2/13 and 3/13 to Europa has been
prepared. Once this has been formally approved, Europa’s
interest in both these licences will revert to 100%. As
announced on 12 May 2015, a Competent
Persons Report ('CPR') prepared by ERC Equipoise (‘ERCE’) detailed
total Gross mean Un-risked Prospective Resources of 1.5 billion
barrels of oil equivalent ('boe') across three prospects in FEL
3/13. ERCE estimates a mean Un-risked Net Present Value
('NPV') of approximately US$7 billion
to a 100% working interest in these three prospects and a
US$1.1 billion NPV on a risked
basis.
Activity on these licences is focused on finding a farm-in
partner with whom to take the licences into the next exploration
phase and drill an exploration well. The target market is
major and mid-cap oil companies and the farm-out data room opened
on 11 January 2016. Europa is pleased
with the response from target companies and considers both the
phase one and phase two awards to be a positive development for the
farm-out.
LO 16/2
Europa has a 100% interest in LO 16/2. The LO was awarded
for a two year period from 1 March
2016. It covers approximately 522 km2 of ground
and adjoins the eastern boundary of FEL 3/13 in which Europa also
has a 100% interest.
Europa has identified three new pre-rift prospects in LO 16/2
which have combined gross mean un-risked prospective resources of
895 million boe. The pre-rift play has proved very successful in
the Flemish Pass basin offshore Newfoundland and it is believed that this play
may also be developed in the Southern Porcupine basin and in
addition to the existing Cretaceous fan play.
The three new prospects were mapped on Europa’s proprietary 3D
seismic which was acquired in 2013 and covers both FEL 3/13 and LO
16/2.
* * ENDS * *
For further information please visit http://www.europaoil.com/
or contact:
Hugh Mackay |
Europa |
+ 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 |
Phil Greenhalgh |
Europa |
+ 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 |
Matt Goode |
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 |
Susie Geliher |
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 2015 Europa produced 141 boepd.
Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle
development (targeting production startup later in 2016 at up to
500 bopd gross) in the UK; 100% owned gas exploration prospect (107
bcf) and appraisal project (CPR 277 bcf) in onshore France, a joint venture with Vermillion Energy
also in onshore France; and three
licences offshore Ireland with the
potential to host gross mean un-risked Prospective Resources of
approximately 3 billion barrels across the three licences.
Qualified Person Review
This release has been reviewed by Hugh
Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, who is a petroleum
geologist with 30 years' experience in petroleum exploration and a
member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, American Association of
Petroleum Geologists and Fellow of the Geological Society. Mr
Mackay has consented to the inclusion of the technical information
in this release in the form and context in which it appears.