Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc 1 Year Extension to Offshore Morocco Licence
October 21 2020 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMEOG
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company')
One Year Extension to Inezgane Licence, Offshore Morocco
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the UK, Ireland and Morocco focused oil and
gas exploration, development and production company, is pleased to announce
that the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines ('ONHYM'), the Moroccan
regulatory body, has granted the Company a one year extension to the initial
phase of the Inezgane Exploration Permit ('Inezgane Offshore Permit' or 'the
Licence') to November 2022. The one-year extension was granted for the time
lost as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and will enable Europa to
complete its ongoing technical work programme. This is focused on further
de-risking 30 prospects and leads which the Company estimates have the
potential to hold in aggregate close to 10 billion barrels of unrisked oil
resources.
Europa holds a 75% interest in, and operatorship of, the Licence, which covers
an area of 11,228 sq. km in the Agadir Basin, with ONHYM holding the remaining
25% interest. Since the award of the Licence in November 2019, activity has
centred on interpreting extensive 3D seismic legacy data to de-risk large
prospects in the Lower Cretaceous play. Of the 30 prospects and leads
identified to date, 14 are prospects, each, Europa estimates, with mean
resources in excess of 150 mmboe. These prospects have stacked reservoir
potential and include a wide range of structural styles including, for example,
4-way dip closures in the case of the 827 mmboe Falcon and 204 mmboe Turtle
prospects. Europa has assigned a geological chance of success to these
prospects of 20-35%.
Ongoing work is focused on seismic reprocessing and further de-risking the
prospects and leads which have been mapped to date. The forward plan is to
build a robust prospect inventory and, subject to the results, secure partner
(s) to drill wells. A farm-out process will be formally launched following
completion of the technical work programme, however the Company continues to
maintain dialogue with three companies, all of whom have expressed interest in
Inezgane.
The original duration of the Inezgane Permit was eight years comprising three
exploration phases of which the Initial Phase of the Licence comprised two
years. Following the extension, the Initial Phase will now run for three years
and the duration of the Inezgane Licence across the three exploration phases is
now nine years. At the end of the Initial Phase, Europa has the option to
commit to drilling an exploration well in the Second Phase or to relinquish the
Licence.
Simon Oddie, CEO of Europa, said: "We are extremely grateful to the Moroccan
authorities for their swift response to the challenges posed by the global
pandemic and specifically for granting us a one year extension to the Initial
Phase of the Inezgane Licence. The equivalent of approximately 50 UKCS North
Sea blocks, Inezgane covers a large area in the Agadir basin and, while much
work has already been carried out despite COVID-19, this extension will enable
us to build on the encouraging results seen to date, the highlights of which
include the mapping by Europa of up to 10 billion barrels of unrisked oil
resources. Inezgane is living up to the promise we identified when we first
applied for the Licence. With the extension granted, we are now focused on
completing the technical work ahead of securing a partner or partners with whom
we can work to realise the Licence's substantial potential."
"Together with ongoing work to bring the Wressle Oil Field in Lincolnshire
online later this quarter, which will more than double our production to over
200 bopd, the months ahead promise to be an exciting period for Europa. I look
forward to providing further updates on our progress as we look to deliver on
our twin objective to expose our shareholders to high impact exploration
activity, while at all times looking to minimise risk by scaling up our UK
onshore production profile and securing partners to drill wells."
* * ENDS * *
For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact:
Simon Oddie 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 which includes production, development and exploration
interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing
processes, and offer attractive terms. In terms of production, in 2019 Europa
produced 91 boepd. Production is set to increase to over 200 boepd in H2 2020
once the Wressle field in the UK, which is currently under development, comes
on stream at a gross rate of 500 bopd.
The Company holds three exploration licences offshore Ireland which have the
potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 3.9 billion
barrels oil equivalent and 2.7* trillion cubic feet ('tcf') gas (*subject to
regulatory approval for the transfer of FEL 3/19). The Company's flagship
projects offshore Ireland are Inishkea and Edge, two near field gas prospects
in the Slyne Basin which the Company classifies as lower risk
infrastructure-led exploration due to their close proximity to the producing
Corrib gas field and associated gas processing infrastructure. In September
2019, Europa was awarded a 75% interest in the Inezgane permit offshore
Morocco. which contains a number of high-impact projects and leads, any one of
which could be transformational to the Company if it were to be successful on
drilling.
END
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