RNS17 Dec 2018 07:14
RNS Number : 6074K
Prospex Oil and Gas PLC
17 December 2018
Prospex Oil and Gas Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: PXOG / Sector: Oil and Gas
17 December 2018
Prospex Oil and Gas Plc ('Prospex' or the 'Company')
Increases interest in proven gas project in southern Spain to 15%
Highlights
-- Acquiring a further 12.5% interest Tesorillo Project for a net consideration of EUR153,250
-- Part of three stage process to acquire a 49.9% interest in Tesorillo which holds a gas discovery and potentially 830BCF of gross unrisked prospective resources
-- Follows completion of 2018 field programme which is focused on de-risking targets ahead of drilling
-- Tesorillo is a much larger variant of the fore-deep play which has already yielded commercial gas discoveries in Prospex's Romanian and Italian assets
Prospex Oil and Gas Plc, the AIM quoted investment company, is pleased to announce it has exercised its option to increase its interest in the Tesorillo Project ('Tesorillo' or 'the Project') in southern Spain to 15% from 2.5% ('the Exercise'). The Exercise is in line with the Company's strategy to expose shareholders to onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to production. Tesorillo covers 38,000ha in a proven hydrocarbon region and contains a known gas discovery, which a Competent Person's Report undertaken by Netherland Sewell and Associates ("NSAI") in 2015 estimated could hold gross unrisked Prospective Resources of 830 billion cubic feet of gas (Best Estimate), with upside in excess of 2 Tcf.
As announced in December 2017, Prospex originally secured a 2.5% interest in Tesorillo, along with an option to increase this to up to 49.9% in two stages. Prospex currently holds interests in three onshore European projects. In addition to Tesorillo, it holds a 50% interest in Suceava in Romania where gas production recently commenced following the drilling of a successful well in 2017; and a 17% interest in the Podere Gallina Permit in the Po Valley region of Italy where Prospex, alongside its partners, is advancing the Podere Maiar gas discovery through the permitting process towards first production.
Prospex non-executive Chairman, Bill Smith, said, "The decision to increase our interest in Tesorillo to 15% for a net consideration of EUR153,250 was an easy one. With 830 billion cubic feet of gross unrisked Prospective Gas Resources and the presence of an historic gas discovery, Tesorillo is a much larger variant of the fore-deep play which Prospex successfully tested in Romania and in Italy. With this in mind, we look forward to progressing our ongoing work programme in Tesorillo, which is centered on further de-risking the company-making potential resources already identified on the licence, ahead of a future drilling programme.
"Today's Exercise caps an excellent year for the Company, one which included confirmation of a significant commercial gas discovery onshore