Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc Farm-out of Irish Licence to Cairn Energy Approved

 
TIDMEOG 
 
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 
 
26 April 2017 
 
          Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc ('Europa' or 'the Company') 
 
 Irish Government Approves Farm-Out of Offshore Ireland Licence to Cairn Energy 
 
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, UK and Ireland focussed exploration, 
development and production company, is pleased to announce Irish Government 
consent has been received for the transfer of a 70% interest in and 
operatorship of (`Transfer') its Licensing Option 16/19 ('LO 16/19' or the 
'Licence') to Capricorn Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of leading 
operator Cairn Energy PLC ("Cairn").  Following the Transfer, Cairn now holds a 
70% interest in, and has assumed operatorship of, the Licence with Europa 
holding the remaining 30%. LO 16/19 covers approximately 976 sq km on the 
Western flank of the South Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland.  Click on the 
link to view a map http://www.europaoil.com/OperationsIreland.aspx 
 
As announced on 8 March 2017, under the terms of the Farm-Out agreement ('FOA') 
Cairn will fund Europa's share of the Crean Multiclient 3D seismic acquisition 
programme ('Crean 3D') planned for summer 2017, which will include the 
acquisition, processing, and interpretation of a 3D seismic survey over LO16/ 
19.  Crean 3D will be carried out by TGS and will cover an area of more than 
5,400km2 between the Porcupine High and the Irish Mainland Platform on the 
Irish Atlantic Margin. Subject to Government approval, the survey is expected 
to commence in June 2017 with the final processed product expected to be 
delivered in 2018. 
 
Future exploration work on the Licence will be based on the results of detailed 
prospect mapping work to be carried out on the processed dataset.  A technical 
update on LO 16/19 was previously released on 18 July 2016 in which Europa 
identified the potential for several Cretaceous submarine fans with gross mean 
un-risked prospective resources in the range of 300 million to 1 billion boe. 
 
Europa CEO Hugh Mackay said, "With government approval for the farm-out of LO 
16/19 to Cairn now in place, we are looking forward to the commencement of the 
fully funded 3D seismic survey in the summer of 2017.  The farm-out of LO 16/19 
demonstrates how we intend to fast track the exploration of our industry 
leading position offshore Ireland by securing suitable partners with whom we 
can take each of our licences forward.  In line with this we continue to talk 
with a number of interested parties for our remaining licences and I look 
forward to providing further updates as and when it is appropriate to do so. 
 
"LO 16/19 is just one of seven offshore Ireland licences we hold.  In all our 
licence position covers 5,818 sq km, six play types, three basins, and twenty 
prospects and leads which we estimate potentially hold gross mean unrisked 
resources of more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent and 1.5 TCF of gas. 
Our licences provide us with exposure to all the various play types being 
targeted in the region: Paleocene; Cretaceous Shelf; Cretaceous Fan; Syn-rift; 
Pre-rift; and Triassic gas.  As a result, with drilling activity set to 
commence in the region in the near term, Europa is strategically placed to 
benefit from any success with the drillbit." 
 
                                 * * 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. Its highly prospective exploration 
projects include the Wressle oil 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. In 2016 Europa produced 123 boepd from its 
portfolio of onshore UK licenses. 
 
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 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 26, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)