12th Nov 2014 07:00
EUROPA OIL & GAS (HOLDINGS) PLC - AGM StatementEUROPA OIL & GAS (HOLDINGS) PLC - AGM Statement
PR Newswire
London, November 11
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 12 November 2014 Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc (`Europa' or `the Company') Annual General Meeting Statement Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration anddevelopment company with a combination of producing and exploration assets inEurope, is holding its Annual General Meeting (`AGM') later today. At themeeting, Chairman Bill Adamson will make the following statement: "The drilling of the Wressle well in the East Midlands petroleum province inJuly 2014, marked the start of a programme focused on proving up the 39 millionbarrels of oil equivalent* (`mmboe') in net mean risked resources that we havemapped across Europa's portfolio of prospects in offshore Ireland, onshoreFrance and onshore UK. We anticipate that the next twenty-four months will seea step up in high impact drilling activity, commencing in the near term withproduction testing the Wressle-1 well which will be followed by drilling the2.9 mmboe Kiln Lane conventional prospect on the neighbouring licence. Subjectto the results, follow-up wells targeting additional leads and prospectsalready identified could be drilled towards the end of next year. Success atany one of these will transform Europa's existing production profile and shouldgenerate significantly higher revenues for reinvestment into furtherdevelopment of our portfolio. "Having previously mapped very large prospects using historic 2-D data, our twolicences in the South Porcupine Basin Offshore Ireland already account for alarge portion of Europa's risked value and we expect to update investors withrespect to these licenses in the near term. Firstly, a new prospect inventoryfor the two licences based on interpretation by the operator, Kosmos Energy, of1,500 km2 of state of the art 3-D seismic data is expected later this month.This will be followed by a Competent Person's Report commissioned by Europa onour Irish licences which will provide an independent assessment of what webelieve will be company-making volumetrics. Subject to the results of theprospect inventory, Kosmos may undertake preparations to enable drilling a welloffshore Ireland as early as 2016. Should Kosmos elect to drill, under theterms of the farm-out agreement, it will fund Europa's 15% share of drillingcosts for a first exploration well on each licence, subject to a cap of eitherUS$90 million in FEL 2/13 and or US$110 million in FEL 3/13. If Kosmos do electto drill it is likely that resources of the magnitude of hundreds of millionsof barrels will be targeted, a substantial amount for a company of Europa'scurrent size. "We anticipate that the year ahead will also see progress made at our 100%owned Béarn des Gaves (`Béarn') and Tarbes val d'Adour (`Tarbes') permits inthe proven Aquitaine Basin onshore France. Béarn holds two potentialcompany-making prospects: the 107 bcf Berenx Shallow gas prospect and the 500+bcf Berenx Deep gas appraisal project. Having recently obtained and reprocessedadditional historic seismic our geological model for Berenx has been furtherrefined which has enhanced the technical credibility of both the shallow anddeep prospectivity. Following this work, we have re-engaged with interestedparties with a view to securing a partner to drill the shallow prospect, and inanticipation of this, we continue to advance well planning and permitting.Meanwhile discussions with potential partners regarding a farm-out of thepreviously producing Tarbes permit are on-going. "In tandem with moving all our existing licences up the development curve, weare constantly working to add new projects and ventures to replenish ourpipeline and maintain a multi-stage portfolio of licences. We are participatingin the 2015 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round that opened in June 2014 andrecently we lodged applications to acquire additional UK onshore licences inthe 14th Onshore (Landward) Oil and Gas Licensing Round. In conjunction withthis, we are also evaluating a number of opportunities to acquire projects bothvia ground floor applications as well as via corporate transactions. "Europa is one of the few oil and gas companies traded on AIM that generatesrevenue and cashflow from hydrocarbon production. Europa has multiple low riskopportunities in the UK to grow production in the near term and offers majorupside potential thanks to two company-making assets in Ireland and France.This is an exciting time for the Company, one in which we are focused onmonetising the value inherent in our licences, and in the process generatingvalue for shareholders running into multiples of our current marketcapitalisation." * - Europa management estimates * * ENDS * * For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact: Hugh Mackay Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc +44 (0) 20 7224 3770Phil Greenhalgh Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc +44 (0) 20 7224 3770Matt Goode finnCap Ltd +44 (0) 20 7220 0500Henrik Persson finnCap Ltd +44 (0) 20 7220 0500Frank Buhagiar St Brides Media and Finance Ltd +44 (0) 20 7236 1177Lottie Brocklehurst St Brides Media and Finance Ltd +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Notes Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stagehydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and developmentinterests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensingprocesses, and offer attractive terms. The Company produced 165 boepd in the UKduring the 2013/2014 financial year, generating sufficient revenues to covercorporate overheads and some exploration expenditure. Its highly prospectiveexploration projects include the Wressle (recently drilled and scheduled fortesting) and Kiln Lane prospects (due to be drilled this year) in the UK; 100%owned gas exploration prospect (107 bcf) and appraisal project (CPR 277 bcf) inonshore France; and a joint venture with leading independent Kosmos to exploretwo licences in offshore Ireland in which Europa had previously identified twoprospects with estimated gross mean un-risked indicative resources of 482million barrels oil and 1.6 billion barrels oil respectively. Qualified Person Review This release has been reviewed by Hugh Mackay, Chief Executive of Europa, whois a petroleum geologist with 30 years' experience in petroleum exploration anda member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, AmericanAssociation of Petroleum Geologists and Fellow of the Geological Society. MrMackay has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in thisrelease in the form and context in which it appears.
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