REG - Prospex Energy PLC - Rental of Transformer at El Romeral

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RNS Number : 8639P  Prospex Energy PLC  22 January 2026

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

 

22 January 2026

 

Prospex Energy plc

("Prospex" or the "Company")

 

Tarba - Rental Transformer Enables El Romeral Production Re-start

 

Prospex Energy plc (AIM: PXEN), the AIM quoted investment company focused on
European gas and power projects, is pleased to announce that Tarba Energía
S.L. ("Tarba") has signed a contract for the rental of a transformer at the El
Romeral gas to power plant in Andalucía, Spain, enabling the plant to resume
electricity generation and sales.

 

The transformer is to be delivered on site and installed before the end of
January 2026.  The rental transformer will be on contract until the delivery
of the new electricity transformer which was ordered from a supplier in Spain
last November.  Tarba is in dialogue with that supplier on the progress of
the new build.

 

Mark Routh, Prospex's CEO, commented:

"The Company is pleased to have sourced a rental transformer for the El
Romeral plant.  The transformer, which has an almost unique voltage and power
specification is expected to be installed this week allowing Tarba to resume
the production of electricity before the end of January.

 

"We remain confident in the value and development potential of the El Romeral
asset and are pleased that the permitting to drill five new natural gas wells
is in its final stages.

 

"The El Romeral power plant can reach full capacity from production from just
two of the proposed five new 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 gas grid.  The El Romeral concessions have substantial development
potential with more than 90 bcf of gas( 1 ) now owned 100% by Prospex.

 

"We will continue to keep shareholders updated on the permitting process.
 Since we are now in the final stage of receiving the permits to drill these
five wells, we have started the process of optimising the funding of the wells
by seeking potential debt funding and farm-in partners."

 

Rental Transformer Contract

Tarba has been unable to procure a rental transformer which fits the almost
unique voltage and power specifications required to meet the export
requirements to deliver electricity from Tarba's gas engine generators to the
high voltage grid connection.  Therefore, as reported in the RNS of 17
November 2025, in mid-November 2025 Tarba ordered a brand-new transformer,
which is estimated to be delivered by Q3 2026.  This new rental transformer
has been procured from the same contractor that rented a transformer to Tarba
in February 2025.  As previously reported, that company asked to replace the
original transformer with a smaller unit at a reduced rental cost on 1 July
2025, but owing to unforeseen events the replacement transformer was not
delivered as agreed, resulting in the cessation of production and gas
generation at Tarba's El Romeral plant since that date.  A claim for
compensation for lost production was agreed but that claim was subsequently
referred to the rental company's lawyers and payment did not occur.  In order
to sign an agreement for the immediate supply of the new rental transformer,
Tarba has had to waive its €76,000 claim for compensation.  This however
will allow the resumption of production and sales at El Romeral as soon as
possible.  Tarba took the decision that the legal costs and time required to
pursue the claim in the Spanish legal system would outweigh the value of the
claim and further delay resumption of production.

 

Tarba sells its generated electricity on the spot market and prices can vary
hugely each day and within day on account of solar power and wind turbine
power dominating the markets.  Recent within day electricity prices have been
recorded between €0/MWh at midday and more than €200/MWh in the nighttime
hours.  It is Tarba's intention to generate electricity from the remaining
gas reserves in El Romeral during the overnight hours when prices exceed
€100/MWh.

 

5-Well drilling Permitting Process

As advised in the RNS of 17 November 2025, the full suite of Environmental
Impact Assessment ("EIA") documentation for the application by Tarba to drill
five new natural gas wells on the El Romeral concessions was submitted to The
Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge in Madrid
("MITECO") on Friday 14 November 2025.  That documentation was forwarded
internally to the to MITECO's Environmental Department 5 December 2025.
 MITECO's timeline for this final step of the approvals process is 90-180
days.

 

The El Romeral concessions, now 100% owned by the Company through Tarba, has
an identified resource base of more than 90 bcf( 1 ) of gas.  The five wells
being permitted are targeting the lowest risk structures in the concessions
with best estimate contingent and prospective gas resources of 18.2 bcf.

 

Seismicity Study

In December 2025, Tarba completed a project to record the background
seismicity across the three El Romeral concessions in order to establish the
background seismicity of the area.  This step is a recommendation (but not a
requirement) from the EIA process so that Tarba can demonstrate to the
regulators that any future extraction of natural gas from the concession areas
does not cause a seismic event.

 

Background on El Romeral

Tarba generates electricity at its El Romeral power plant from its own natural
gas production from the concessions, which in July 2024 were granted a
ten-year extension by MITECO 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 to 4 weeks
to drill once a suitable drilling rig has been mobilised after the well
permits are secured.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR") and is disclosed
in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

* * ENDS * *

 

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

 

 Mark Routh                        Prospex Energy PLC            Tel: +44 (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)
 Neil Passmore                     Hannam & Partners             Tel: +44 (0) 20 7907 8500

 Leif Powis
 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.

 

El Romeral Gas Reserves and Resources

An independent Competent Person's Report including the gas Reserves and the
Contingent and Prospective gas Resources of the El Romeral Licence areas, was
prepared by Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc. on 9 October 2019.( 1 )
In addition to the 2P reserves of 8.5 MMscm (0.3 Bcf) it attributes a total of
142 MMscm (5.0 Bcf) of 2C resources and 2,541 MMscm (89.7 Bcf) Best Estimate
Prospective resources to the El Romeral Licence Concessions.

 

Prospex through its ownership of Tarba now owns 100% of the El Romeral
Concessions.

 

References:

( 1 ) Source: "Competent Person's Report Netherland Sewell & Associates
Inc. 9 October 2019.

NSAI_El-Romeral-CPR-2019
(https://prospex.energy/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/NSAI_El-romeral-estimates-2019.pdf)

 

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 owned through Tarba by Prospex which owns 100% of Tarba since the
acquisition in April 2025 of the shares in Tarba held by Warrego Energy
Limited.  Warrego Energy is 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 can
only operate 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.

 

Natural gas continues to play an essential role in Europe's energy security
and the ecological transition process.  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.

 

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").

 

Glossary:

scm                        Standard cubic metres

scm/d                   Standard cubic metres per day

MMscm               Million standard cubic metres

Bcf                          Billion standard cubic feet

MMscfd               million standard cubic feet per day

MWh                     Mega Watt hour

TTF                         The 'Title Transfer Facility' - a
virtual trading point for natural gas in the Netherlands.

 

Qualified Person Signoff

In accordance with the AIM notice for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, the
Company discloses that Mark Routh, the CEO and a director of Prospex Energy
plc has reviewed the technical information contained herein.  Mark Routh has
an MSc in Petroleum Engineering and has been a member of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers since 1985.  He has over 40 years operating experience in
the upstream oil and gas industry.  Mark Routh consents to the inclusion of
the information in the form and context in which it appears.

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