REG - Prospex Energy PLC - Spanish Ministry Initiates EIA Consultation

Prospex EnergyAnnouncement

04/02/2025 07:15

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RNS Number : 7506V  Prospex Energy PLC  04 February 2025

Prospex Energy plc / Index: AIM / Epic: PXEN / Sector: Oil and Gas

 

4 February 2025

 

Prospex Energy plc

("Prospex" or the "Company")

 

Spanish Ministry Initiates Statutory EIA Consultation to drill five further
wells on El Romeral Production Concessions

 

Prospex Energy plc (AIM: PXEN), the AIM quoted investment company focused on
European gas and power projects, is pleased to announce that it has received
confirmation that the Spanish regulatory authority has initiated the Statutory
Consultation of the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") for the
application to drill five new natural gas wells on the production concessions
owned by Tarba Energía S.L. ("Tarba") known as El Romeral 1, 2 & 3 on 24
January 2025.  Tarba generates electricity from its own natural gas
production from the concessions, which in July 2024 were granted a ten-year
extension to July 2034.  The five wells are planned to target the five
optimum structures on the El Romeral concessions, which will produce biogenic
gas from shallow subsurface horizons.  The depth of the wells average about
700 metres and will each take no longer than 3-4 weeks to drill once a
suitable drilling rig has been mobilised.

 

Tarba submitted the EIA to Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition and
the Demographic Challenge (the "Ministry") in Madrid in May 2024 prior to
confirmation that the El Romeral Concessions were granted an extension for 10
years until July 2034.

 

The Ministry has sent the EIA and supporting technical documents to the Area
of Industry and Energy of the Government sub-delegation in Seville and to a
list of 29 statutory consultees, including public administrations,
stakeholders and institutions or associations representing general interests.
 The period of statutory consultation addressed to the general public will
commence after the EIA application is publicly gazetted, which is expected to
happen in the upcoming weeks.  Officially this statutory consultation period
is open for 30 working days, during which, Tarba will respond to questions and
requests for further information from interested parties.

 

At the end of the gazetting period, the Junta de Andalucía will report back
to the Ministry in Madrid with its findings and recommendations.  From this
point the Ministry in Madrid is meant to take between 90 to 180 days for the
final review and approval, giving time to gather its internal final EIA
evaluation, together with all the mandatory statutory reports from those
public administrations and institutions before it can issue an approval
resolution granting the permits to drill the wells.

 

Whilst Tarba waits for the regulatory approvals process to complete, Tarba
will progress with key drilling preparatory work, including detailed well
design, sourcing of essential long-lead items, and securing the necessary
contractors to deliver the five new production wells.

Mark Routh, Prospex's CEO, commented:

"This is a positive step in the process to approve the permits to drill five
new wells on the El Romeral concessions.  Having prepared an extremely
thorough and professional environmental impact assessment study, including a
statutory 12-month monitoring of the potential impact on local flora and
fauna, Tarba has now progressed to the stage of statutory consultation with
interested parties mostly located in Andalucía.  Natural gas will continue
to play a crucial role in Europe's energy security and the ecological
transition process, and the production of shallow biogenic gas from the
onshore El Romeral concessions will have a carbon footprint which will be a
small fraction of the comparative carbon footprint resulting from the
importation of natural gas by pipeline, and even smaller when compared to
liquefied natural gas imports.

 

"It is important to highlight that the El Romeral power plant will reach full
output capacity from production of just two of these five wells.  Any extra
gas from the remaining new wells or any future wells drilled on the
concessions will support expansion plans at the power plant as well as the
ability to supply natural gas directly to the grid.  We are very much excited
by the development potential of El Romeral and look forward to keeping
shareholders updated on the permitting process."

 

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended by virtue of the Market
Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

 

* * ENDS * *

 

For further information visit www.prospex.energy (http://www.prospex.energy)
or contact the following:

 

 Mark Routh                        Prospex Energy PLC            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
 Ritchie Balmer                    Strand Hanson Limited         Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Rory Murphy
 Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking)   VSA Capital Limited           Tel: +44 (0) 20 3005 5000

Andrew Raca (Corporate Finance)
 Ana Ribeiro / Charlotte Page      St Brides Partners Limited    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

 

Notes

Prospex Energy PLC is an AIM quoted investment company focussed on high impact
onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to
production.  The Company's strategy is to acquire undervalued projects with
multiple, tangible value trigger points that can be realised within 12 months
of acquisition and then applying low-cost re-evaluation techniques to identify
and de-risk prospects.  The Company will rapidly scale up gas production in
the short term to generate internal revenues that can then be deployed to
develop the asset base and increase production further.

 

About El Romeral and Tarba

The El Romeral power plant is operated by Tarba, which is based near Carmona
east of Seville in the province of Andalucía, Spain.  The El Romeral asset
is co-owned through Tarba by Prospex which has a 49.9% working interest and
Warrego Energy Limited which has a 50.1% working interest. Warrego Energy is
now wholly owned by Hancock Energy (PB) Pty Ltd in Perth Western Australia.

 

The El Romeral gas and power project in Spain, has gas production wells which
supply gas to an 8.1MW power plant near Carmona in Southern Spain.  It is
currently operating at about 30% of its full capacity because Tarba is waiting
on the permits to drill five further infill wells on the concessions to
increase production.  Tarba is already categorised as a hybrid energy
provider with the successful installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof
of the plant in August 2022.  Tarba sells electricity generated from the
plant on the spot market in Spain.  The El Romeral licences comprise three
contiguous production concessions.

 

Tarba is pioneering a new hybridisation model that combines natural gas and
solar energy as sources for electricity generation in the ecological
transition process by developing a project to produce 5MW electricity using
photovoltaic solar energy ("Project Helios").

 

In 2023 and 2024, Tarba supplied enough energy to cover the electricity
consumption of approximately 6,700 homes in the area, even when operating the
facility at one third of its capacity.  With future wells to be drilled on
the concessions, the plant is expected to reach its maximum nameplate
production capacity to sell 8.1MW of power into the grid. The combination of
further natural gas extracted from the concessions and the new photovoltaic
generation is expected to cover the energy supply of 20,100 homes per year.

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