The big Irish Atlantic oil and gas ambitions of Europa Oil & Gas Plc faced a setback as an unnamed sector ‘major’ walked away from farm-out talks Europa for three wholly-owned frontier exploration licences off Ireland.
"The major has now informed the company that, as part of a wider strategic review, the Licences are no longer under consideration for farm-in," said a press release.
Europa said talks with other parties continue.
The company is prioritizing securing a partner to drill its flagship prospect in Ireland, the Inishkea prospect which lies on FEL 4/19 in the Slyne basin.
Inishkea is located close to the ~1tcf producing Corrib gas field and associated infrastructure. The Company therefore regards Inishkea as lower risk “infrastructure-led” exploration and has assigned gross unrisked prospective resources of 1.5tcf and an estimated geological chance of success of one in three to the prospect.
In tandem with ongoing farm-out discussions, the site survey process for a drilling location at Inishkea is being advanced. The company hopes to obtain permission for the survey to be conducted during summer 2020, which would enable drilling to occur during 2021.
Simon Oddie, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of Europa, said: “With gross unrisked prospective gas resources of 1.5tcf, a one in three chance of success, a location in a proven hydrocarbon region and lying close to the producing Corrib gas field, Inishkea represents a compelling drill target, one that continues to attract considerable interest from a number of potential partners. While we cannot comment on timings for the conclusion of ongoing discussions, we remain optimistic that we will secure a partner for Inishkea with whom we can drill what has the potential to be a transformation well for Europa."
“In the meantime, activity continues across our asset base including working with our partners to bring the Wressle field in the UK into production later this year at an initial gross rate of 500bopd as well as technical work in Morocco focused on reprocessing and interpreting data to build a prospect inventory," he added.
