Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc Award of Large Exploration Licence, Offshore Morocco

 
TIDMEOG 
 
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 
 
18 September 2019 
 
          Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company') 
 
             Award of Large Exploration Licence, Offshore Morocco 
 
Highlights 
 
  * Eight-year licence covering large, under-explored area of Agadir Basin 
  * Focus is Lower Cretaceous fan sand play, a prolific producer in West Africa 
  * Initial, low cost, work programme to mature large stacked, 250MMBO plus 
    prospects already identified on 3D seismic to drillable status ahead of 
    farm-out 
 
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, oil and gas exploration, development and 
production company with assets in UK and Ireland, is pleased to announce that 
it has been awarded a new Exploration Permit ('Inezgane Offshore Permit' or 
'the Licence'), covering an area of 11,228 sqkm in the Agadir Basin, offshore 
Morocco.  A formal letter of award from the Office National des Hydrocarbures 
et des Mines ('ONHYM') is expected shortly and, following confirmation of its 
acceptance, Europa will be assigned a 75% interest in, and operatorship of, the 
Licence with ONHYM holding the remaining 25% interest. 
 
Europa's focus in the Inezgane Permit is on the Lower Cretaceous fan sand play, 
which is a prolific producer in West Africa.  Europa has identified that the 
key elements required for a working hydrocarbon system, namely source, 
reservoir and seal, are all present in the Licence area.  In addition, a number 
of large structural traps located on the edges and above salt diapirs have 
already been identified throughout the permit area.  Europa plans to mature 
several of these stacked prospects, which each have the potential to hold over 
250 million barrels of oil, to drillable status with a view to attracting one 
or more farminees to drill an exploration well in the second phase of the 
Licence. 
 
The Licence, which lies in water depths of between 600 and 2,000m, has an 
eight-year term and comprises three phases. During the two-year initial phase, 
Europa will undertake a work programme, which includes reprocessing 1,300 km2 
of 3D seismic data, as well as other technical studies.  At the end of the 
initial phase, Europa will have the option to commit to drilling an exploration 
well in the second phase or to relinquish the Licence. 
 
To date, only 10 wells have been drilled in deepwater Morocco, of which only 
three have penetrated a complete Lower Cretaceous section. Given the deepwater 
basins extend for some 1,800 kilometres offshore Morocco, it is clear that the 
play is highly under-explored. If the Lower Cretaceous play can be successfully 
unlocked, enormous upside lies within the rest of the Licence area. 
 
A presentation providing further details on the Inezgane Offshore Permit will 
shortly be uploaded onto the Company's website at http://www.europaoil.com/ 
presentations.aspx 
 
Europa's CEO, Hugh Mackay, said: "The Inezgane Permit in Morocco is an 
excellent technical fit with Europa's substantial licence position in the 
Porcupine Basin in Ireland where, among other plays, we are also targeting the 
Lower Cretaceous, a prolific producer in West Africa.  In terms of our 
investment criteria, Morocco ticks all the boxes: a stable country with a 
transparent business environment; excellent fiscal terms; and low political and 
regulatory risk.  From a technical, commercial and strategic perspective 
Morocco therefore represents an obvious new country for Europa's technical team 
to deploy the first-rate knowledge and understanding of Lower Cretaceous plays 
it has gained through its work across our industry-leading licence position in 
offshore Ireland. 
 
"We very much look forward to working with ONHYM in the initial phase of the 
Licence to mature prospects, which have the potential to hold up to 250MMBO 
each, to drillable status over the next 2-years.  Together with our 
well-established positions in Ireland and the UK, we now have multiple work 
streams underway concurrently, all of which have the potential to generate 
significant value for our shareholders.  With this in mind, I look forward to 
providing further updates on our progress." 
 
Qualified Person Review 
 
This release has been reviewed by Hugh Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, who 
is a petroleum geologist with over 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. 
 
The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information 
for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. 
 
                                 * * 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 
 
Camille Gochez    finnCap Ltd                   + 44 (0) 20 7220 
                                                0500 
 
Frank Buhagiar    St Brides Partners Ltd        + 44 (0) 20 7236 
                                                1177 
 
Juliet Earl       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 2020 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 1.5 tcf gas across all six 
licences. The Company's flagship project offshore Ireland is the Inishkea 
prospect - a near field gas exploration project with 1.5 trillion cubic feet 
('TCF') gross mean un-risked prospective gas resources. 
 
 
 
END
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