Europa Oil & Gas Regulatory News (EOG)

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas 25 July 2013 Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc (`Europa' or `the Company') Favourable Holmwood High Court Decision Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration anddevelopment company with a combination of producing and exploration assets inEurope, is pleased to announce that it has been successful in its High Courtchallenge in relation to the drilling of an exploratory well at the Holmwoodprospect (`Holmwood') in the PEDL143 licence in the Weald Basin, Surrey, inwhich the Company holds a 40% interest. Europa regards this judgment as positive and will now consider the next stepsforward regarding PEDL 143 with its joint venture partners, being EgdonResources (38.4%), Altwood Petroleum (1.6%), and Warwick Energy (20%). Thisjudgment means that the Inspector's decision is quashed and the appeal will beremitted to the Planning Inspectorate for redetermination, which may involve afurther planning inquiry, for the exploratory drill site at Holmwood. As announced on 1 November 2012, Europa, along with its partners, applied foran order to quash the decision of the Secretary of State for Communities andLocal Government's appointed Inspector to dismiss an appeal, made by Europa,against Surrey County Council's refusal to grant planning permission to drillone exploratory borehole and undertake a short term test for hydrocarbons atthe Holmwood prospect drillsite. The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, gave judgmentin favour of quashing the Inspector's decision at 3pm on 25 July 2013 in theRoyal Courts of Justice. The judge granted the Leith Hill Action Group leave toappeal, to the Court of Appeal, against his judgment. Europa's CEO, Hugh Mackay said, "We are naturally pleased with the judge'sdecision. Holmwood was assigned mean gross unrisked prospective resources of5.6 million barrels of oil in a CPR published in June 2012, making it in ourview one of the best undrilled prospects onshore in the UK. Above all, allowingconventional exploration to take place at Holmwood is consistent with recentgovernment initiatives to promote hydrocarbon exploration in onshore UK. Were acommercial discovery to be made at Holmwood, not only would it materially addto Europa's existing production of 180boepd from three existing UK onshorefields, but it would also generate substantial tax receipts for the Governmentover the life of a well. "Aside from Holmwood, we have a number of other exploration licences in the UKand offshore Ireland. In the UK we are due to drill the Wressle prospect laterthis year and which we rate as having a one in three chance of making acommercial discovery. Offshore Ireland, a 3D seismic acquisition programme iscurrently being carried out by our joint venture partner Kosmos Energy. This isan exciting period for the Company and further updates will be provided as andwhen it is appropriate to do so." * * ENDS * * For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact: Hugh Mackay Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Phil Greenhalgh Europa + 44 (0) 20 7224 3770 Matt Goode finnCap Ltd +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Henrik Persson finnCap Ltd +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Media and Finance +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Ltd Lottie St Brides Media and Finance +44 (0) 20 7236 1177Brocklehurst Ltd Notes Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stagehydrocarbon assets that includes production, exploration and developmentinterests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensingprocesses, and offer attractive terms. The Company currently producesapproximately 180 boepd in the UK, generating sufficient revenues to covercorporate overheads. Its highly prospective exploration projects include theWressle prospect in the UK where a well is due to be drilled later in 2013; anda joint venture with leading independent Kosmos Energy to explore two licencesin offshore Ireland in which Europa has identified two prospects with estimatedgross mean un-risked indicative resources of 482 million barrels oil and 1.6billion barrels oil respectively.