Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc - Wressle Planning Appeal Update

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

13 July 2017

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc (‘Europa’ or ‘the Company’)

Wressle Planning Appeal Update

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the UK and Ireland focussed oil and gas exploration, development and production company, notes today’s update from Egdon Resources (‘Egdon’) regarding its intention to appeal the decision of North Lincolnshire Council’s Planning Committee of 3 July 2017 to refuse planning consent for the development of the Wressle Oil Field (‘Wressle’) on PEDLs 180 and PEDL 182 (‘the Licences’) for a second time.  Europa has a 30%* working interest in Wressle alongside Egdon (operator, 25%), Celtique Energie Petroleum Ltd (30%, after the sale of 3.33% to Union Jack Oil plc which is subject to OGA approval), and Union Jack Oil plc (15%, following the above sale).

Notices advertising Egdon’s intention to appeal will be displayed in the local parishes and published in the local paper over the coming week in accordance with planning law.  An appeal will be submitted without delay shortly afterwards. Egdon will also request that the Planning Inspectorate co-joins this new appeal with its appeal against the original refusal of planning permission of 11 January 2017.  The first appeal is currently scheduled for early November 2017.

Egdon also advises that it will separately appeal the Council’s decision of the 3 July 2017 meeting to refuse application PA/2017/268 which requested a twelve month extension to the existing planning consent for the site at Wressle.

Europa’s CEO, Hugh Mackay, said: “Following a comprehensive consultation and evaluation process, both applications to develop Wressle were recommended for approval by the Council’s Head of Development Management and Building Control, while an environmental permit from the Environment Agency for the proposed development of the site has already been issued.  The partners in the Licences believe the case for bringing Wressle into production is strong and we look forward to providing further updates on the appeal process in due course. 

“In the meantime, we were pleased to note that Providence Resources has begun drilling operations on the Druid and Drombeg prospects in the South Porcupine Basin offshore Ireland.  With the recent arrival of a number of major operators to the region, we believe this well will be the first of many to be drilled over the next few years.  Success at this or any other well in Atlantic Ireland will have positive read across for our industry-leading portfolio of licences offshore Ireland where we have already identified 32 prospects and leads in a diverse range of six play types and three basins across all seven of our licences.” 

*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, 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
Emily Morris	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 (targeting production start-up in early 2017 at up to 500 bopd gross) 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.

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