Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC – Update on New Offshore Ireland Licensing Options

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

8 June 2016

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

Update on New Offshore Ireland Licensing Options

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused on Europe, is pleased to confirm that it has formally accepted the award of four new Licensing Options (‘LOs’) as part of phase two of the 2015 Atlantic Ireland licensing round.  This follows the announcements on 3 June 2015 by the Company and by Seán Kyne T.D., Minister of State for Natural Resources at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (‘DCENR’).

Further information regarding the new licences is tabulated below and a map showing their location can be found on Europa’s website at:            http://www.europaoil.com/documents/160607EuropaIrishLicences.pdf.

Europa is pleased to provide the following summary information regarding the new licenses awarded in phase two:

LO 16/19

LO 16/19 is in the South Porcupine basin and lies immediately to the east of, and shares a common boundary with, FEL 2/13 in which Europa also has a 100% interest and is operator (subject to approval). LO 16/19 contains the Cretaceous fan play and has the potential for 300 – 1,000 million barrels of oil equivalent (‘boe’) gross mean un-risked indicative resources. Turbidite channels have been clearly mapped on Europa’s 3D seismic on the adjacent FEL 2/13 and the Company considers it highly likely that these channels are directly feeding submarine fans developed in LO 16/19.

LO 16/20

LO 16/20 is exploration immediately adjacent to, and northwest of, the Corrib gas field in the Slyne Basin. Corrib came onto production in December 2015. LO 16/20 contains the Triassic gas play and Europa has identified gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 1 TCF in a Triassic horst block some 16 km northwest of Corrib and mapped on historic 3D seismic.

LO 16/21

LO 16/21 is exploration around 40 km northeast of the Corrib gas field in the Slyne Basin. LO 16/21 contains the Triassic gas play and Europa has identified gross mean un-risked indicative resources of up to 0.5 TCF in Triassic tilted fault blocks mapped on historic 2D and 3D seismic.

LO 16/22

LO 16/22 is frontier exploration in the Padraig basin on the eastern margin of the Rockall Trough and some 160 km to the west of the Connemara and Spanish point oil and gas discoveries. LO 16/22 contains the Pre-rift and Syn-rift Plays. Europa was inspired by the exploration success on the western side of the Atlantic conjugate margin in the Flemish Pass basin offshore Newfoundland and considers that the Padraig basin may have been juxtaposed against Flemish Pass prior to Atlantic rifting. Europa has mapped gross mean un-risked indicative resources 300 - 600 million boe on historic 2D seismic.

Following the completion of a work programme, Europa has the option to apply to the Irish authorities for their consent to convert each LO into a full Frontier Exploration Licence (‘FEL’).

Europa CEO Hugh Mackay said, “I am delighted to confirm award of four new Licensing Options and to provide investors with some more technical background regarding the licences. I hope that investors can now begin to understand how important this licence round has been for Europa’s ongoing corporate development. We now have a leading position with seven licences in offshore Ireland and feel that we have a sustainable exploration business with a balanced portfolio of assets in three basins with a variety of risk ranging from exploration in a proven commercial play to frontier exploration and all points in between. We have been working the basins hard since 2011 and this very successful outcome to the licence round represents the fruits of our labours.

“All our licences have the potential to be high impact and each one could be a company maker for Europa in the event of drilling success.  Europa is potentially exposed to 4 billion boe and 1.5 TCF of gross mean un-risked indicative and prospective resources across the seven licences. Potential joint venture partners often cite the need for ‘running room’ in a basin, i.e. they want more than one licence, Europa is now in a position to be a one stop shop for that running room. Over the next few weeks we look forward to finding out which companies have been awarded neighbouring licences and in due course we will provide further technical detail on our new awards.”

Existing licences

FEL 2/13 and 3/13

Europa understands that formal documentation from the Irish Authorities authorising the transfer of Kosmos Energy Ireland’s interest and operatorship for FEL 2/13 and 3/13 to Europa has been prepared.  Once this has been formally approved, Europa’s interest in both these licences will revert to 100%.  As announced on 12 May 2015, a Competent Persons Report ('CPR') prepared by ERC Equipoise (‘ERCE’) detailed total Gross mean Un-risked Prospective Resources of 1.5 billion boe across three prospects in FEL 3/13.  ERCE estimates a mean un-risked Net Present Value ('NPV') of approximately US$7 billion to a 100% working interest in these three prospects and a US$1.1 billion NPV on a risked basis.

Activity on these licences is focused on finding a farm-in partner with whom to take the licences into the next exploration phase and drill an exploration well.  The target market is major and mid-cap oil companies and the farm-out data room opened on 11 January 2016. Europa is pleased with the response from target companies and considers both the Phase 1 and Phase 2 awards to be a positive development for the farm-out.

LO 16/2

Europa has a 100% interest in LO 16/2.  The LO was awarded for a two year period from 1 March 2016. It covers approximately 522 km² of ground and adjoins the eastern boundary of FEL 3/13 in which Europa also has a 100% interest.

Europa has identified three new pre-rift prospects in LO 16/2 which have combined gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 895 million boe. The pre-rift play has proved very successful in the Flemish Pass basin offshore Newfoundland and it is believed that this play may also be developed in the Southern Porcupine basin and in addition to the existing Cretaceous fan play.

The three new prospects were mapped on Europa’s proprietary 3D seismic which was acquired in 2013 and covers both FEL 3/13 and LO 16/2. Woodside Energy are currently shooting their 1,600 km² Granuaile 3D seismic survey in LO 16/14, the block immediately south of FEL 3/13 and LO 16/2.

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For further information please visit http://www.europaoil.com/ or contact:

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 2015 Europa produced 141 boepd.  Its highly prospective exploration projects include the Wressle development (targeting production startup late 2016 at up to 500 bopd gross) in the UK; 100% owned gas exploration prospect (107 bcf) and appraisal project (CPR 277 bcf) in onshore France, a joint venture with Vermillion Energy also in onshore France; and seven licences offshore Ireland with the potential to host gross mean un-risked resources of more than 4 billion barrels oil 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.