Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas
11 January 2017
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company')
Update on Wressle Oil Discovery
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the UK and Ireland focussed exploration,
development and production company, notes today's update from Egdon Resources
('Egdon') regarding the refusal of planning consent by North Lincolnshire
County Council's Planning Committee for the development of the Wressle Oil
Field ('Wressle') at Lodge Farm, Wressle, North Lincolnshire.
At the same meeting the application for the installation of groundwater
monitoring boreholes was approved.
Europa has a 30%* working interest in Wressle which is located on PEDLs 180 and
182 ('the Licences'), alongside Egdon (operator, 25%), Celtique Energie
Petroleum Ltd (33.3%), and Union Jack Oil (11.67%).
The decision of the Committee goes against the positive recommendation of the
County Council's Planning Officer which was determined after an extensive and
thorough review of the field development plan. The partners in Wressle will now
consider their options which include the right to appeal.
Europa's CEO, Hugh Mackay, said "We are disappointed with the Planning
Committee's decision. Lying just 5km away from the Europa-operated Crosby
Warren field, Wressle is located in the heart of the East Midlands petroleum
province, a region with a long heritage of conventional oil and gas
production. Furthermore, at an anticipated gross rate of 500 bopd, Wressle has
the potential to generate meaningful revenues not just for the participating
companies, but also for the government in the form of tax receipts. With this
in mind, we will be exploring with our partners all options on how best to take
these licences forward and further updates will be provided in due course.
"In tandem with this, work continues across our portfolio of licences,
particularly in Atlantic Ireland where Europa holds one of the largest and most
comprehensive licence positions which covers an area of 5,818 sq km and
includes six play types, three basins and 20 prospects and leads. Here we are
focused on increasing our drill ready prospect inventory from two to six and
securing farm-out partners with whom we can prove these up via the drill bit.
Farm-out discussions are continuing. Together with planned drilling activity at
the 5.6 mmbo Holmwood prospect in the Weald Basin, 2017 promises to be an
exciting year for Europa and I look forward to keeping the market updated on
developments."
*On 24 November 2016, Europa announced it had signed a Sale and Purchase
Agreement ('SPA') with Upland Resources (UK Onshore) Limited ('Upland') in
relation to a 10% interest in PEDLs 180 and 182. Completion of the SPA, which
is subject to approval from the Oil & Gas Authority and the granting of
planning consent, would result in Europa retaining a 20% interest in the
Licences.
* * 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 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd. Its
highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development in the
UK and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean
un-risked prospective and indicative resources of more than 4 billion barrels
oil equivalent and 1.5 tcf gas across all seven 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.