Europa Oil & Gas, a company specializing in oil and gas exploration, development, and production with a focus on the UK, Ireland, and West Africa, has actively acquired a 42.9% equity stake in Antler Global. This was achieved through a $3 million cash subscription for new ordinary shares in Antler. Antler, in turn, possesses an 80% working interest in the recently acquired and promising EG-08 production sharing contract offshore Equatorial Guinea. The remaining 20% of this contract is held by Guinea Ecuatorialde Petroleos (GEPetrol), the national oil company.
This subscription adds an additional geographical location to the company’s existing portfolio of assets, one which the board believes has enormous near-term, infrastructure-led, near-field exploration potential. The subscription monies received by Antler will fund the first-year work programme costs, including the acquisition of existing 3D seismic data, which will be reprocessed alongside preparations to drill, while ensuring all financial obligations under the EG-08 PSC with the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and GEPetrol are met.
While the initial two-year term of the licence does not require the drilling of a well, the company believes it already has drill-ready prospects, which consist of three independent targets, with estimated total prospective resources of 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent (TCFE), based on company estimates.
Antler will commence a farm-down process with a view to bringing in a partner for drilling. The resource prospectivity of EG-08 has only been examined at one stratigraphic horizon, which is analogous to discoveries made in the adjoining block operated by Chevron. However, further prospectivity exists on multiple horizons, and these are yet to be evaluated.
Equatorial Guinea (‘EG’) has an established oil and gas industry with associated infrastructure and is one of the biggest hydrocarbon producers in sub-Saharan Africa. There have been multiple sizable oil and gas discoveries made offshore Equatorial Guinea over the years, although there has been limited exploration drilling in the past decade. However, there has been a significant uptick in upstream exploration and development activity throughout 2023, with further activity planned for 2024–25.
Chief Executive Officer Will Holland expressed his enthusiasm regarding the potentially transformative agreement for Europa. This deal adds another high-impact exploration prospect to the company’s portfolio, aligning with their strategic approach to refreshing the portfolio with prospects that are potentially high-impact but relatively low-risk. Holland emphasised that Equatorial Guinea represents a substantial opportunity for Europa, offering near-term drilling activity with a target of over 1 TCFE of recoverable resource. This area boasts a well-developed upstream industry and a highly supportive government. Additionally, Holland reported strong backing from many institutional investors for the acquisition.
