Europa Oil and Gas reported on 11 June 2020 that it was acquiring, subject to regulatory approval, 100% interest in Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 3/19 from DNO. The acquisition requires Europa to pay an upfront nominal fee and grant DNO a 5% Net Profits Interest for any future hydrocarbon production from accumulations within the licence. These include the Edge Prospect, with estimated un-risked prospective resources of 1.2 Tcfg. Prior to this transaction, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) had reported on 31 March 2020 that FEL 3/19 was held by CNOOC (80% + operator) and DNO (20%). Therefore, during Q2 2020 and prior to the deal with Europa, DNO acquired CNOOC's operated interest (the terms of which have not been reported).   FEL 3/19 spans the Slyne and Erris sub-basins, 18 km east of the producing Corrib gas field and around 24 km east of Europa's drill-ready Inishkea prospect in FEL 4/19. The Edge prospect and leads such as Clayton, Downey, Lynott and McGowan were identified in the licence and reported by Faroe Petroleum in 2016. Edge was described by Faroe Petroleum as a Triassic Sherwood Sandstone reservoir, with a reported chance of success of around 15%. The Corrib reservoir consists of the same formation at 3,300 m depth, whereas the Edge prospect is reportedly much shallower. Europa intend to re-launch the farmout of FEL 3/19 alongside its FEL 4/19 (Inishkea) farmout which, due to the proximity to the Corrib field, provide infrastructure-led exploration opportunities.   Following regulatory approval, FEL 3/19 will be wholly owned by Europa Oil and Gas (Holdings) plc.
Europa announces the conditional acquisition of FEL03/19, off NW Ireland, from DNO. The 956-sq km permit contains the 1.2 Tcf Edge prospect, adding onto Europa's other regional assets.