Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc AGM Statement

 
TIDMEOG 
 
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 
 
4 December 2018 
 
          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, Simon Oddie, Chairman of Europa, will 
make the following statement: 
 
"Europa holds a multi-stage portfolio of production, development and 
exploration assets in the UK as well as an industry-leading licence position 
offshore Ireland, one which is exposed to the same plays being targeted by 
major operators in the upcoming round of drilling that is due to commence in 
2019. 
 
"Europa has played an active role in offshore Ireland exploration in recent 
years and we intend to continue to do so.  With this in mind, considerable 
progress has been made over the last twelve months towards delivering on our 
goal to drill our first well offshore Ireland in 2020. Over and above our 
excellent work in Ireland, however, the last twelve months have demonstrated 
the importance of having a diversified portfolio of projects, not only in terms 
of stage of development, but also in terms of jurisdiction.  Here too, progress 
has been made, specifically with regards to adding a third territory of 
interest to our portfolio. 
 
"Offshore Ireland, a successful technical work programme focused on identifying 
and de-risking multiple targets across our licences using state of the art 3D 
seismic data resulted in a more than 50% increase in gross mean unrisked 
resources. This substantial step-up is all the more impressive when one 
considers last year's AGM Statement made reference to the circa 4 billion 
barrels of oil and 1.5 TCF of gas that, by that point, we had identified across 
these same licences.  Today, the numbers stand at 6.4 billion barrels of oil 
equivalent and 2.5 tcf of GIIP.  It is numbers like these that help to explain 
why blue-chip operators are investing heavily in exploration projects in the 
region. 
 
"The technical work we undertook could well have resulted in a substantial 
downgrade to last year's eye-catching volumetrics or even kill, at a stroke, 
the various prospects and plays on our licences.  Instead, not only have all 
our targets remained intact and the volumetrics increased substantially, but a 
number of lower grade leads have been reclassified as prospects.  This is a 
major achievement and one that has caught the attention of the blue-chip 
operators we are looking to partner with to take these prospects to the next 
stage: drilling.  As announced on 20 November 2018, we are currently 
negotiating farm-in agreements with a major international oil and gas company 
in respect of LO 16/20 in the Slyne Basin and Frontier Exploration Licences 
('FEL') 1/17 and 3/13 in the South Porcupine Basin which, subject to a 
successful conclusion, could result in Europa having material interests in up 
to three high impact wells. 
 
"In tandem with these farm-out negotiations, we have commenced planning to 
drill a well targeting our flagship Inishkea Prospect on LO16/20 in the Slyne 
Basin in 2020.  The decision to upgrade Inishkea to flagship status during the 
year was an easy one: a robust geological model based on a gas play that has 
been proved up by the nearby producing Corrib field and the Shell 18/20-7 gas 
discovery well drilled in 2010; close proximity to infrastructure; relatively 
low drilling costs due to shallow water depths; and the growing importance of 
gas in Ireland's energy mix.  Our target drill date for Inishkea is 2020 and 
shareholders can expect further updates on our plans over the course of the 
next 12 months. 
 
"While major milestones were chalked up across our Irish portfolio in 2018, the 
same cannot be said for our UK onshore assets.  Our existing production 
benefited from rising oil prices, generating revenues of GBP1.6 million during 
the last financial year. We are constantly looking to maximise our existing 
production, and we have a number of initiatives underway focused on achieving 
just that. However, efforts to scale up output both by bringing the Wressle oil 
discovery in North Lincolnshire on line and by drilling the conventional 
Holmwood prospect in the Weald Basin, proved fruitless following unfavourable 
decisions at the council and governmental levels respectively.  We remain 
optimistic that Wressle will eventually be brought into production at a gross 
rate of 500 bopd, even after the disappointing decision by the Council's 
planning committee to refuse permission despite a recommendation from its own 
professional planning officer.  However, following the decision by the 
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs not to renew the 
lease for the drill site at Bury Hill Wood, we took the decision to withdraw 
our application to extend planning permission to drill Holmwood. We are 
evaluating PEDL143's remaining prospectivity ahead of developing a forward 
plan. 
 
 "Our experience onshore UK during 2018 has vindicated the Board's decision to 
add a third territory to our portfolio.  Over the course of the year, we have 
evaluated a number of potential projects in several new jurisdictions and, as 
announced on 20 November 2018, we are pursuing a new venture opportunity in 
Morocco to further diversify our asset base.  By next year's AGM Statement, I 
am confident Europa will not only have a clear line of sight towards the 
drilling of at least one potentially transformational well offshore Ireland, 
but also have a portfolio of assets in at least three jurisdictions, all at 
various stages of development and all contributing to our growing pipeline of 
opportunities offering significant re-rating potential." 
 
                                 * * 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 2018 Europa produced 94 boepd. Its 
highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development in the 
UK (targeting production start-up in 2019 at 500 bopd gross) and six licences 
offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective 
resources of 6.4 billion barrels oil equivalent and 2.5 tcf undiscovered GIIP 
across all six 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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