LONDON (Alliance News) - Europa Oil and Gas (Holdings) PLC Tuesday said it has been conditionally awarded a promote license over block 41/24 in the southern North Sea from the 28th Seaward Licensing Round which was announced Monday.
The licensing round, which tends to be held every other year, is conducted by the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Oil and Gas Authority, the industry's new regulator, where licenses in the UK are awarded to companies looking to exploit those areas for oil or gas.
Europa has been awarded the license through its joint venture company between Europa, with a 50% stake, and Arenite Petroleum Ltd, which holds the other 50% stake.
Europa said it used to own block 41/24 when it was awarded the licenses in the 21st licensing round. The current license is for two years and once certain financial, technical and environmental criteria have been met, the license will be made into a traditional license.
"We are delighted to announce this award. As a consequence of previous and ongoing work we have considerable technical expertise on Carboniferous prospectivity as well as substantive seismic and other technical data in this area," said Europa Chief Executive Hugh Mackay.
A traditional license would last for 26 years and allow the company to move it from exploration and into production, if it decides to do so.
"With the results of the latest UK onshore licensing round expected shortly and the ongoing round offshore Ireland, we continue to look to add to our exciting portfolio of multi-stage projects," added Mackay.
In August, the UK DECC will announce the results of the first tranche of the 14th landward licensing round for oil and gas licenses in the country, specifically for onshore licenses.
The 14th landward licensing round opened in July 2014 and the results will be in two tranches, the first of which will be announced in August and the second tranche "later in the year".
The onshore licensing round is more significant than usual as it has sparked fears that the pro-fracking government will open the door to protected sites for fracking companies.
The licensing round is significant, mainly due to the sheer amount of blocks on offer, with hundreds available that stretch between the south coast of England, including the whole of the Isle of Man, to as north as Scotland.
To put the amount of blocks into perspective, the Express newspaper cited eco-charity Friends of the Earth on Sunday claiming that up to 43% of Britain's land mass is covered by the blocks on offer under the licensing round, and according to The Guardian, around 40% of the blocks on offer cover protected areas.
Europa shares were up 0.5% to 5.66 pence per share on Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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