Europa Oil finds three large prospects in Irish Atlantic

Europa Oil & Gas has identified three new prospects with prospective resources of 895m barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) among the new blocks it won in last year’s Irish Atlantic licencing round.

The AIM-listed company said the three new pre-rift gross mean un-risked prospective resources were part of the new Porcupine Basin geological play which has seen significant exploration success off Newfoundland in recent years.

Europa was awarded a 100% interest of Licensing Option 16/2 (OL16/2), which comprises Blocks 54/3 and 54/8 and covers approximately 522 km2 of ground adjoining the eastern boundary of another of Europa's 100% interests, Frontier Exploration Licence 3/13.

The interest in LO 16/2, for which there has already been 3D seismic work completed in 2013, is initially for a period of two years effective from 1 March 2016,

CEO Hugh Mackay said the licence award grows the acreage in a basin that is now clearly of interest to major oil companies, diversified the portfolio geologically, and offered logistical synergies with the nearby farm-out of FELs 2/13 and 3/13.

“Together with the entry of major oil companies into the basin these are exciting times for Europa," he added. "Clearly there is now a much better appreciation of the prospectivity of the basin by the global oil industry. However, to realise this potential we need successful exploration drilling to take place in the basin."

Mackay said the company, which aimed to bring these new prospects to drill-ready status, was also hopeful of winning further blocks in the second tranche of Irish licence awards.

House broker FinnCap said the update showed that the company's technical knowledge on the back of the 3D survey has given an advantage when it came to applying for new acreage.

Shares in Europa rose 11% to 4.31p by 1430 GMT on Wednesday, a five month high.