Parkmead Group (The) PLC Parkmead wins three new UK oil and gas licences (6742U)

TIDMPMG

RNS Number : 6742U

Parkmead Group (The) PLC

31 July 2015

31 July 2015

The Parkmead Group plc

("Parkmead", "the Company" or "the Group")

Parkmead wins three new UK oil and gas licences

Parkmead, the UK and Netherlands focused independent oil and gas group, is delighted to announce that it has been provisionally awarded three new licences covering three offshore blocks in the UK 28th Licensing Round. These newly awarded licences are part of the second tranche of 28th Round awards. This latest success follows Parkmead's award of six licences covering nine offshore blocks in the first tranche of awards. Two of the new licences are located in the highly prospective West of Shetland area, and will both be operated by Parkmead. The third licence is located in the Southern North Sea, and will be operated by Atlantic Petroleum.

The new licences complete an excellent 28th Round for Parkmead, with the Company winning a total of nine new oil and gas licences covering 12 offshore blocks. These licences complement Parkmead's strong existing asset base of oil and gas production, exploration prospects, and the major Perth-Dolphin-Lowlander (PDL) oil hub development.

Tom Cross, Executive Chairman, commented:

"We are delighted with these significant new licence awards, which further increase the scale of Parkmead's oil and gas operations in the UK. Both the West of Shetland region and the Southern Gas Basin are areas we understand well, and both have the potential to add major value to Parkmead.

These new licences complete an excellent suite of 28th Round awards for Parkmead, increasing our UK portfolio by a total of 12 offshore blocks.

In addition to this growth through licencing, the Parkmead team is looking hard at further acquisition opportunities which take advantage of the low oil price environment."

The following awards have been made to Parkmead and its joint bidding groups:

West of Shetland

Parkmead has been awarded two new licences adjacent to existing blocks that are already operated by the Group in the West of Shetland area.

Block 205/13 (Parkmead 56% and operator) is located immediately to the east of the Parkmead operated Block 205/12, which contains the important Davaar prospect. The primary play fairway developed on this acreage is the Paleocene Vaila Formation which forms the reservoir in the adjacent Foinaven, Schiehallion and Loyal oil fields, and also in the Laggan and Tormore gas discoveries. Two prospects, Sanda North and Sanda South, have been identified in Block 205/13. Parkmead's partners on this new licence are Atlantic Petroleum and Dyas.

Block 205/19b (Parkmead 43% and operator) is situated to the north of Parkmead's existing West of Shetland blocks containing the large Cretaceous Eddystone prospect. The Cretaceous fairway provides the reservoir in a number of nearby gas discoveries such as Victory and Edradour. Biostratigraphic analysis and seismic interpretation indicate an extension of the Eddystone prospect into this block. Parkmead's co-venturers on this new licence are Atlantic Petroleum and Dyas.

Southern North Sea

Parkmead has been awarded another new licence in the Southern Gas Basin. This is an area where the Company has a deep technical knowledge of the exploration plays and is building a significant portfolio of targets. Parkmead has already had significant success in the Southern Gas Basin with the gas discoveries at Platypus and Pharos.

Block 48/8b (Parkmead 50%) is located approximately 20km south east of the Babbage gas field in the Southern North Sea. The Rotliegend Lower Leman Sandstone is the primary play in this region, as seen in the offset fields at Ensign, Seven Seas, West Sole and Babbage. Seven prospects and leads have been identified with Lower Leman targets, the most significant of which is a prospect called Selene. Detailed petrophysics, depth conversion and reservoir studies will be conducted as part of the work programme. Parkmead's partner on this licence is Atlantic Petroleum, who will act as the operator.

Enquiries:

 
 The Parkmead Group plc 
 Tom Cross (Executive Chairman)        [phone] 
 Ryan Stroulger (Chief Financial 
  Officer)                             [phone] 
 
 Charles Stanley Securities 
  (Financial Adviser, NOMAD 
  and Corporate Broker to Parkmead) 
 Mark Taylor                           [phone] 
 Karri Vuori                           [phone] 
  James Greenwood                       [phone] 
 
 Instinctif Partners Limited 
  (PR Adviser to Parkmead) 
 David Simonson                        [phone] 
 Anca Spiridon                         [phone] 
 

Notes to Editors:

1. Dr Colin Percival, Parkmead's Technical Director, who holds a First Class Honours Degree in Geology and a Ph.D in Sedimentology and has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this announcement.

2. Parkmead is an independent, upstream oil and gas company that is admitted to trading on AIM on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PMG). Parkmead is focused on growth in the oil and gas exploration and production sector, targeting transactions at both asset and corporate levels.

3. In November 2011, Parkmead completed the acquisition of stakes in UK Blocks 48/1a, 47/5b and 48/1c containing the Platypus gas field and the Possum gas prospect. Mapping indicates the potential for Platypus and Possum to contain up to 180 and 100 billion cubic feet of gas in place, respectively.

4. In December 2011, Parkmead agreed to acquire stakes in blocks 47/4d, 47/5d, 47/10c and 48/6c in the UK Southern North Sea, which contained the Pharos gas prospect. These two gas-basin acquisitions were important steps in the first stage of Parkmead's development as a new independent energy company.

5. In March 2012, Parkmead agreed to acquire a portfolio of Netherlands onshore assets comprising four producing gas fields and two oil fields from Dyas B.V. This acquisition provided the Group with its first producing fields and with future oil developments at Ottoland and Papekop. This acquisition completed in August 2012.

6. In May 2012, Parkmead launched its recommended acquisition of DEO Petroleum plc. As a result, Parkmead now owns 52% and is operator of the UKCS Perth oil field

7. In October 2012, Parkmead was awarded several new licences under the UKCS 27(th) Licensing Round. The six new licences comprise interests in a total of 25 offshore blocks or partial blocks across the Central North Sea, West of Scotland and West of Shetland.

8. In July 2013, Parkmead completed its recommended offer for Lochard Energy Group plc. This gave Parkmead a 10% interest in the producing Athena oil field.

9. In December 2013, in the second tranche of the UKCS 27(th) Licensing Round, Parkmead was awarded a further five UK blocks through two new licences in the UK Southern North Sea. That made a total award to Parkmead of 30 UK blocks across eight licences within the UKCS 27(th) Licensing Round.

10. In January 2014, Parkmead completed a successful oversubscribed placing raising US$66.0 million which provided the Company with increased financial firepower and balance sheet strength.

11. In April 2014, Parkmead completed the acquisition of a 20 per cent. interest in the Athena oil field from EWE VERTRIEB GmbH, trebling Parkmead's interest in the Athena oil field to 30 per cent.

12. In September 2014, Parkmead discovered a new gas field onshore the Netherlands at Diever West.

13. In November 2014, Parkmead was awarded six new licences in the UKCS 28(th) Licensing Round, all as operator. The six new licences comprise interests in a total of nine offshore blocks located in the Central and Southern North Sea.

14. In May 2015, Parkmead completed a successful placing raising US$21.1 million to accelerate opportunities.

15. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Aupec Limited, The Parkmead Group provides petroleum benchmarking and economics expertise to a wide range of government bodies and international oil and gas companies. Aupec has to date worked with over 100 governments, national oil companies, majors and independents, across the world, as well as a number of multi-national agencies such as the European Commission and the World Bank. Aupec is currently undertaking an important benchmarking project for a group of the world's largest super-major oil companies.

For further information please refer to Parkmead's website at www.parkmeadgroup.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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