UK-based exploration and production company Europa Oil & Gas (EOG) has announced it is negotiating a new venture opportunity in Morocco.
Rabat – The UK and Ireland focused oil and gas exploration company will invest over $1 million to fund a two-year venture. The move entails a new offshore exploration licence in Morocco, according to a company statement.
The London-listed firm is currently negotiating the exploration licence with the National Office of Hydrocarbon and Mines (ONHYM), Morocco’s petroleum-related operations regulator.
The company is expecting to complete the agreement with ONHYM between December 2018 and January 2019.
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EOG expects to begin exploration program in March 2019. The first year of the program will include “3D seismic PSDM [Pre-Stack Depth Migration] reprocessing.”
The second year “will focus on building of a new prospect inventory and securing a farm-out partner in order to fund the drilling of an exploration well in the subsequent exploration phase of the licence.”
PSDM is a seismic instrument that captures images with geological structure while defining faults and and estimating depths with high accuracy.
Europa Oil & Gas CEO Hugh Mackay said, “We are delighted to have completed a fully subscribed Placing and are pleased to welcome new institutional investors as significant shareholders in Europa.”
Speaking about the company’s new venture in Morocco, Mackay said, “The funds raised will enable us to deliver the work programme for a potential new licence in Morocco and to screen and land other new ventures.”
The investment is part of an approximately $6.44 million fund that EOG has raised to fund its Irish Atlantic Margin projects and its new venture in Morocco.
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“The Fundraising has been undertaken to provide funding for Europa’s near-term work programme, to fund new venture opportunities and to provide working capital to the Company,” reads part of the company’s statement.
Mackay believes that funds raised “will enable the company to continue to advance its high impact exploration portfolio in Atlantic Ireland and in particular to bring our high-graded prospects to the point of being ready to drill.”
Founded in 1995, Europa Oil & Gas is a leading explorer in Atlantic Ireland with six exploration licences. Three onshore UK oil fields produce currently about 95 barrels of oil daily . The company’s assets and activities are located in the UK, Ireland and France.
