Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc
Unconventional Resources Licence Awards
The Directors of Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc are pleased to announce the
award to Europa by the Coal Authority of two licences for underground coal
gasification off the east coast of England. These areas are adjacent to
Europa's existing East Midlands licences.
Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is a developing technology that recovers up
to 80% of the calorific value of in situ coal by a process of controlled
combustion. UCG, when combined with CO2 storage in the depleted coal seams,
creates a source of energy which rivals nuclear for low emissions and has lower
unit costs than conventional gas-fired power stations*.
With only 30% utilisation rate for the coals, the estimated potential UCG
energy resource in these two licence areas is 36EJ or 6 billion barrels of oil
equivalent.
Paul Barrett, Managing Director, said `Whilst UCG is in its infancy in Europe,
it has great potential to extract energy cleanly from vast resources of virgin
coal still present in parts of the UK. Europa's existing business position in
the East Midlands is a perfect platform to pilot these technologies, whilst the
proximity of the licences to refinery, gas and energy infrastructure is a key
to future commercialisation of this resource.'
For further information, contact:
Europa Oil & Gas Paul Barrett +44 1235 467 360
Astaire Securities Shane Gallwey/Toby Gibbs +44 20 7492 4750
Astaire Securities Charles Vaughan +44 20 7492 4763
The contents of this news release have been reviewed and approved by Paul
Barrett, MSc., a geologist with over 30 years oil, gas and coal experience.
Notes to Editors
Licence Details
Conditional UCG Licences with an initial 3 year term.
Humber South 100km2 situated along the coast next to the Mablethorpe Gas
Terminal
Offshore Holderness 100km2 situated along the coast next to the Aldborough Gas
Storage Facility and north of the Easington Gas Terminal
Both licences held 90% Europa Oil & Gas (Resources) Limited and 10% Oxford Coal
Consulting Limited
Reference
* Kempka T. et al, 2009, Economic viability of in-situ coal gasification with
downstream CO2 storage.
Useful Links
www.ugpc.com Underground Coal Gasification Partnership (UK)
www.lincenergy.com.au Linc Energy - Leader in Australian UCG
Glossary
Conversion rate: 2,700m3 syn-gas per tonne of coal.
Energy content: 12.5MJ/m3 syngas.
Energy equivalence: 1 bbl oil = 6 GJ
EJ: Exajoules (10^15 joules)