Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc
HYKEHAM-1 DRILLING
The Directors of Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc are pleased to announce that
drilling the main section of the Hykeham-1 exploration well, situated on the
PEDL150 licence near Lincoln, has commenced. The BDF28 rig was mobilized to the
site on the 9th November and the well is testing the potential for up to 20
million barrels of oil in place in two target horizons. The anticipated final
TD of just over 1,000m is expected to be reached by early December.
Hykeham is a low risk prospect situated in the main producing fairway of the
East Midlands Petroleum Province. It is one of several leads and prospects
identified on the PEDL150 licence each with similar risk/reward profiles.
Across the East Midlands Petroleum Province, Europa has a significant high
quality exploration holding of over 100,000 net acres containing 12 identified
leads and prospects with gross unrisked potential for over 350 million barrels
of oil in place.
Success at Hykeham will significantly increase Europa's oil production levels
and more than double group 2P reserves. The East Midlands remains relatively
underexplored, with a low exploration drilling density despite the cumulative
production of 75 million barrels of oil to date. This makes it an attractive
area to explore for further oil, with crude sold locally at close to Brent
prices, developments coming quickly into production and a corporation tax
burden of only 60% of that on existing UK production.
Paul Barrett, Managing Director of Europa, said `We regard the East Midlands as
a key core area for Europa due to a combination of technical and commercial
positives. Success at Hykeham will create a step change for the Company and be
a driver for both further potential reserves growth and stronger profits in
2010'.
For further information, please contact:
Paul Barrett Europa Oil & Gas +44 1235 553 266
Jonathan Wright Seymour Pierce +44 20 7107 8000