Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC Offer of New Offshore Ireland Licensing Options

 
TIDMEOG 
 
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. 
 
 
 
END
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June 03, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)
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