Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc /
Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
14 December 2017
Europa Oil &
Gas (Holdings) plc (‘Europa’ or ‘the Company’)
Annual General
Meeting Statement
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM quoted UK and
Ireland-focussed oil and gas
exploration and production company, is holding its Annual General
Meeting (‘AGM’) later today. At the meeting, CEO Hugh Mackay will give a presentation to
shareholders in line with the Company’s RNS Reach which was
released today at 7am. In
addition, Colin Bousfield, Chairman
of Europa, will make the following statement at the AGM:
“2017 was a record year for Europa in terms of corporate
activity. The Company agreed no fewer than seven transactions
for the financial year ending 31 July
2017, all of which are in line with our strategy to advance
our asset base towards value trigger events such as drilling,
whilst managing the associated risks. The above number of
deals does not tell the whole story. We remain in active
discussions with potential partners for several other licences,
most notably our industry leading acreage offshore Ireland, and I am confident that the strong
momentum behind our deal flow will be maintained, as we focus on
proving up the billions of barrels of prospective resources we have
identified across our licences.
“Among the deals we secured was the farm-out of a 70% interest
in LO 16/19 in the Irish Atlantic Margin to Cairn Energy in return
for a free carry on a US$6m work
programme including the acquisition of 3D seismic; the farm-out of
a 12.5% interest in the upcoming Holmwood well in the Weald Basin
to Angus Energy, which sees Europa fully carried on its 20% share
of drilling costs; and two separate sales of interests in the
Wressle discovery in East Lincolnshire in which we continue to hold
a 20% stake. In addition, we increased Europa’s interest in PEDLs
299 (Hardstoft oil field) and 343 (Cloughton gas discovery) to 25%
and 35% respectively at no additional cost to the Company following
our acquisition of Shale Petroleum (UK) Limited.
“Our model is based on gaining early entry into new plays,
undertaking first class technical work and then securing partners
to take our licences forward. As well as reducing risk this
allows a company of our size to not just participate in exploration
activity in our chosen areas of focus, but also to play an active
role in shaping its development. This is what we have done and
continue to do offshore Ireland
where, thanks to being one of the first to enter the South
Porcupine basin in 2011, we now hold one of the largest and most
diverse licence positions. Surrounded by blue chip operators
of the stature of Statoil, Total, ENI, Nexen and BP, Europa’s
portfolio of seven licences covers an area of 5,818 sq km, includes
six play types in three basins and contains over 30 prospects and
leads that potentially hold gross mean unrisked resources of over 4
billion barrels of oil and 1.5 TCF of gas. Technical work
continues across our Irish acreage to increase the number of
drill-ready prospects to six within the next 12 months.
Currently we have two, each of which is a potential
company-maker.
“With six offshore Ireland
licences at various stages of the farm-out process, we are
confident further deals will be agreed. Our confidence is not
based solely on the quality of our assets and our inhouse technical
work, but also on the high level of interest in the region. The
flurry of transactions seen during 2017, including our own farm-out
to Cairn Energy, is testament to offshore Ireland’s emergence as an
exploration hotspot. Thanks to our unique position, Europa is very
much at the heart of this exciting new play and we are determined
to capitalise on this for the benefit of our shareholders.
“Needle-moving activity in the year ahead is not restricted to
offshore Ireland. Onshore UK, we expect to drill a well to
test the 5.6 million Holmwood prospect in the Weald Basin. In
addition to targeting the producing Portland sandstone, the well is
expected to encounter the Kimmeridge limestone from which the
nearby Horse Hill discovery produced at a rate of over 1,300 bopd
for a limited period. Still in the UK and subject to the
outcome of an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate, in 2018 we
hope to bring the Wressle oil discovery online which will double
our net production to over 200bopd. At this level our
production will break even at US$30
per barrel oil. At today’s US$60+ per barrel level, 200bopd would
provide us with a highly cash generative platform with which to
fund further exploration.
“With work streams underway across our portfolio, we are
delivering on our objective to expose our shareholders to multiple
company-making opportunities, while reducing risk and minimising
capital commitments. I look forward to providing further
updates on our progress in the year ahead.”
* * ENDS * *
For further information please visit 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 2017 Europa produced 113 boepd. Its highly prospective
exploration projects include the Wressle development in the UK and
seven licences offshore Ireland
with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and
indicative resources of 4.7 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5
tcf gas across all seven 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.