www.europaoil.com
Europa Oil & Gas is an active oil and gas explorer throughout the European region. It holds core producing oil assets in the UK, along with a wide range of exploration and appraisal projects in various stages of development in the UK, Romania, France and Western Sahara.
The Company currently produces oil from three UK onshore oilfields, with ongoing appraisal work in Romania. The Company also holds a key gas appraisal asset in southwest France. Exploration for both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons is an integral part of the portfolio and the Company continues to pursue this upside potential in all areas.
Europa Oil & Gas submits appeal against Holmwood planning refusal
Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) said it has formally submitted the appeal against the decision to refuse planning permission for the Holmwood-1 exploration well in Surrey and has completed the sale of Europa's Ukrainian subsidiary Europa Nafta & Gas Ltd.
In a statement prepared for today’s AGM, chief executive Hugh Mackay. who joined the group in August this year, updated shareholders on the latest development for the oil and gas exploration and development company with a combination of producing and exploration assets in onshore Europe.
Europa holds a 40 percent working interest in the Holmwood-1 well. The Planning Committee of Surrey County Council refused planning permission for the well in May. Europa said at the time the the vote was very close and it plannned to appeal.
It considers the initial proposal technically strong, fully supported by the County's own planning officers and as such the refusal is thought likely to be overturned on appeal.
The PEDL143 onshore licence, which hosts the Holmwood prospect, is being explored through a joint venture. Europa is the operator, Egdon Resources have a 40 percent stake and privately owned Warwick Energy owns the remaining 20 percent.
The sale of Europa Nafta & Gas to Moltex Business Inc was completed on December 1 2011 with Europa receiving a final cash payment of US$98,750 on December 5.
In the AGM statement, Mackay said his predecessors at Europa successfully built up a highly attractive portfolio of assets at various stages of the development cycle ranging from production in the UK that generates revenues sufficient to cover the corporate overheads, to exploration licences that include a potential company-maker in the form of the Berenx gas asset in France.
“However, following a poor run in the share price over the past year, the market capitalisation of Europa at today's levels merely reflects the value of the producing UK assets. Effectively, no value is currently being placed on our highly prospective exploration assets. Admittedly, there has been poor news flow over the last year, notably in the UK
and Romania, but the quality and balance of the portfolio remains intact,” the CEO said.
He said the group is actively discussing possible farm-outs for several of Europa’s projects with a number of interested and suitable partners.
"Although 2011 has been a challenging year for the company and a highly frustrating one for our shareholders, importantly Europa continues to be profitable at the operating level and still holds highly prospective exploration licences.
“These two points lay behind my decision to not only join Europa but also to accept a remuneration package based on a share price that is considerably higher than today's levels, so aligning myself with existing rather than new shareholders. With this in mind, I am extremely excited for the future and expect to report this time next year, meaningful progress in the development of our assets,” Mackay added.
Europa Oil & Gas has assets onshore UK, Romania and France and offshore Ireland.
