Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc /
Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
26 April 2017
Europa Oil &
Gas (Holdings) plc (‘Europa’ or ‘the Company’)
Irish
Government Approves Farm-Out of Offshore Ireland Licence to Cairn
Energy
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, UK and Ireland focussed exploration, development and
production company, is pleased to announce Irish Government consent
has been received for the transfer of a 70% interest in and
operatorship of (`Transfer') its Licensing Option 16/19 (‘LO 16/19’
or the ‘Licence’) to Capricorn Ireland Limited, a wholly owned
subsidiary of leading operator Cairn Energy PLC (“Cairn”).
Following the Transfer, Cairn now holds a 70% interest in,
and has assumed operatorship of, the Licence with Europa holding
the remaining 30%. LO 16/19 covers approximately 976 sq km on the
Western flank of the South Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland. Click on the link to view a map
http://www.europaoil.com/OperationsIreland.aspx
As announced on 8 March 2017,
under the terms of the Farm-Out agreement (‘FOA’) Cairn will fund
Europa’s share of the Crean Multiclient 3D seismic acquisition
programme (‘Crean 3D’) planned for summer 2017, which will include
the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of a 3D seismic
survey over LO16/19. Crean 3D will be carried out by TGS and
will cover an area of more than 5,400km2 between the
Porcupine High and the Irish Mainland Platform on the Irish
Atlantic Margin. Subject to Government approval, the survey is
expected to commence in June 2017
with the final processed product expected to be delivered in
2018.
Future exploration work on the Licence will be based on the
results of detailed prospect mapping work to be carried out on the
processed dataset. A technical update on LO 16/19 was
previously released on 18 July 2016
in which Europa identified the potential for several Cretaceous
submarine fans with gross mean un-risked prospective resources in
the range of 300 million to 1 billion boe.
Europa CEO Hugh Mackay said,
“With government approval for the farm-out of LO 16/19 to Cairn now
in place, we are looking forward to the commencement of the fully
funded 3D seismic survey in the summer of 2017. The farm-out
of LO 16/19 demonstrates how we intend to fast track the
exploration of our industry leading position offshore Ireland by securing suitable partners with
whom we can take each of our licences forward. In line with
this we continue to talk with a number of interested parties for
our remaining licences and I look forward to providing further
updates as and when it is appropriate to do so.
“LO 16/19 is just one of seven offshore Ireland licences we hold. In all our
licence position covers 5,818 sq km, six play types, three basins,
and twenty prospects and leads which we estimate potentially hold
gross mean unrisked resources of more than 4 billion barrels of oil
equivalent and 1.5 TCF of gas. Our licences provide us with
exposure to all the various play types being targeted in the
region: Paleocene; Cretaceous Shelf; Cretaceous Fan; Syn-rift;
Pre-rift; and Triassic gas. As a result, with drilling
activity set to commence in the region in the near term, Europa is
strategically placed to benefit from any success with the
drillbit.”
* * 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. Its highly prospective exploration projects
include the Wressle oil development in the UK and seven licences
offshore Ireland with the
potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective and indicative
resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 TCF
gas across all seven licences. In 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd
from its portfolio of onshore UK licenses.
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.