Europa Secures Irish Licence Extension

Europa Oil & Gas has secured a 12-month extension to its wholly-owned Irish frontier exploration licence (FEL) 2/13, it said August 12. It will now run out July 4, 2020. The licence is on the west flank of the South Porcupine basin and includes the Kiely prospects and the Doyle Cretaceous channel complex.

The Kiely East prospect is the top ranked prospect on the licence. Its gross mean un-risked prospective resources are 280mn barrels of oil equivalent, but while the uncertainties of data mean there could be associated gas, it is seen at this stage as primarily an oil play.

The company will now integrate newly bought 3D seismic data with particular focus on mapping the extension of Kiely East into open acreage to the south and the reservoir has the potential to double in size. A site survey application for a drilling location on Kiely East is in process.

FEL 2/13 is one of six offshore Ireland licences held by Europa which potentially hold gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 6.4bn barrels oil equivalent and 1.5 trillion ft³ of gas.

CEO Hugh Mackay said the extension enabled Europa to press on with preparations to drill an exploration well. Europa has a number of other priority targets for which it is hoping to find farm-out partners and drill at the earliest opportunity, he said.

FEL 2/13 is on the west flank of the South Porcupine basin in water depths ranging from 800-1,200m. Hydrocarbon plays include the Pre-rift and Cretaceous channels. Nine prospects and leads have been identified on proprietary PSDM 3D seismic data.