Prospex Energy PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: PXEN / Sector: Oil and Gas
27 January 2022
Prospex Energy PLC
('Prospex' or the 'Company')
Update on the Selva Field Development in
Highlights
· Production Concession for Selva Malvezzi expected at the end of March 2022
· Po Valley Energy, the operator, starts and fully funds the installation of the seismic monitoring network to be operational ahead of the 12 months required by the regulators
· First gas production estimated by Q1 2023
· Prospex remains fully committed to increasing its stake to 37% in the Selva gas field
Prospex Energy PLC,) the AIM quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, provides an update on the Selva field development project in
On 10 August 2021 the Company announced the conditional acquisition of a further 20% of the Podere Gallina licence from AIM quoted United Oil and Gas plc (AIM:UOG) ("UOG") and UOG Holdings plc (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOG) by way of a corporate transaction of 100% of UOG Italia S.r.l. ("UOG Italia") which has a 20% working interest in the Podere Gallina licence. UOG Italia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOG Holdings plc. Under the terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreement with UOG, the long-stop date by which the transaction should complete has been extended by mutual consent from 7 March 2022 to 6 April 2022.
Production Concession Progress
On 21 January 2022, the operator, Po Valley Energy (ASX:PVE) ('Po Valley') advised the Joint Venture partners that the INTESA (the agreement) for the Selva Malvezzi concession has been sent by the Ministry for Ecological Transition ('MITE') to the
Environmental Monitoring and Funding by Po Valley
After the production concession is granted, before any gas may be extracted from the Selva field, there is a regulatory requirement to establish a 12-month baseline of local seismicity to ensure that any gas extraction from the area does not lead to increased local seismic activity.
The operator, Po Valley, has this week completed the drilling of three shallow monitoring boreholes, one at 141 metres and two shallower boreholes at 10 metres. By the end of this week the second 140 metre borehole will be completed and equipped with piezometers. The water level transducers and settlement gauges will be installed on 28 January 2022. The supply and installation of transducers and datalogger are planned for 14 February 2022. On 26 January civil works for the seismic stations commenced and the seismic monitoring network is expected to operational by 15 February 2022.
This work has been started and funded 100% by Po Valley earlier than the required 12 months and in advance of the award of the Production Concession at which time it becomes a firm commitment which all Joint Venture Partners have agreed to fund. The Joint Venture partners, PXOG and UOG have agreed to fund their share of this work and all development costs when the Production Concession is awarded. Po Valley has advised PXOG and UOG that failure to fund any commitments under the Joint Operating Agreement when they become due could be construed as notification to relinquish the licence. Po Valley has indicated it wishes to take over the partners' participating interests, however, the Joint Venture partners refute that Po Valley has the right to do so and do not intend to relinquish their interest in the Licence and have informed Po Valley accordingly. Further updates will be made in due course.
SNAM tie-in Contract
On 10 December 2021, the operator, Po Valley advanced a refundable bond payment to Snam Rete Gas S.p.A. ("SNAM") of
Mark Routh Prospex's CEO commented:
"We are working with Po Valley to achieve first gas from Selva as soon as possible, but with no guarantee on the timing of the Production Concession award, any funding of development activity prior to award is premature. However recent events are positive, and we are now seeing the final steps towards the granting of the Production Concession.
"We are very excited that we are making encouraging progress towards gas production at Selva which will be a transformational asset for Prospex. We fully intend to complete acquisition from UOG and look forward to further activity on the wider Podere Gallina licence in the future."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of
* * ENDS * *
For further information visit www.prospex.energy or contact the following:
Mark Routh |
Prospex Energy PLC |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Rory Murphy |
Strand Hanson Limited
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 |
Colin Rowbury |
Novum Securities Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7399 9427 |
Duncan Vasey |
Peterhouse Capital Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 9797 |
Susie Geliher |
St Brides Partners Ltd
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Notes
About Selva:
The Podere Gallina Licence is in the Po Valley region of
The Podere Gallina Licence holds independently verified 2P gross reserves of 13.4 Bcf (5.0 Bcf net to Prospex at 37% WI), gross Contingent 2C Resources of 14.1 Bcf (5.2 Bcf net) and a further 91.5 Bcf of gross Best Estimate Prospective Resources (33.9 Bcf net).
[Source: CGG Services (
The updated Corporate Presentation for Q1-2022 is available on the Company's website at https://bit.ly/3G6JtCm.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.