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Europa Oil & Gas celebrates ‘record year’ for corporate activity

Published: 07:18 14 Dec 2017 GMT

oil and gas operations
The explorer holds its AGM later today

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc (LON:EOG) has had a “record year” for corporate activity, chairman Colin Bousfield told investors ahead of today’s AGM.

“The company agreed no fewer than seven transactions for the financial year ending 31 July 2017, all of which are in line with our strategy to advance our asset base towards value trigger events such as drilling, whilst managing the associated risks,” Bousfield said in a statement.

“The above number of deals does not tell the whole story.  

“We remain in active discussions with potential partners for several other licences, most notably our industry leading acreage offshore Ireland, and I am confident that the strong momentum behind our deal flow will be maintained, as we focus on proving up the billions of barrels of prospective resources we have identified across our licences.”

The highlight for the exploration company, which is focussed on project offshore Ireland and onshore UK, was a deal to sell 70% of an Irish exploration venture to Cairn Energy PLC (LON:CNE) which committed to funding some US$6mln on new operations.

It also dealt 12.5% of the Holmwood (a potential ‘Horse Hill lookalike’) exploration project, in Southern England, to Angus Energy – that transaction will see Europa fully carried for its remaining 20% stake in the well.

Bousfield added: “With six offshore Ireland licences at various stages of the farm-out process, we are confident further deals will be agreed. 

“Our confidence is not based solely on the quality of our assets and our inhouse technical work, but also on the high level of interest in the region.

“The flurry of transactions seen during 2017, including our own farm-out to Cairn Energy, is testament to offshore Ireland’s emergence as an exploration hotspot. Thanks to our unique position, Europa is very much at the heart of this exciting new play and we are determined to capitalise on this for the benefit of our shareholders.”

Looking at the UK onshore, specifically Holmwood and the Weald basin, Bousfield highlighted the potential for ‘needle moving activity’ and he also noted the possibility of new production elsewhere in the UK should the Planning Inspectorate approve the Wressle field start-up project.

“With work streams underway across our portfolio, we are delivering on our objective to expose our shareholders to multiple company-making opportunities, while reducing risk and minimising capital commitments.  I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in the year ahead.”

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