Europa Oil & Gas has announced it has been given more time to explore for gas in a licence in North Yorkshire

In a statement, the company said the initial exploration term of its Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence near Scarborough, PEDL343, has been extended for two years to July 2026.

The industry regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, has also extended the second, appraisal, term of PEDL343 to July 2028, the company said.

Europa said the extensions would allow it to continue ongoing work on the licence.

PEDL343 was granted in 2016, as part of the 14th onshore round. At the time, the regulator said the licence would target shale gas. The initial term had been expected to run until 2021 and the second term to 2026.

The Cloughton-1 well in PEDL343, drilled in 1986, flowed good quality gas at rates of up to 40,000 standard cubic feet per day, Europa reported. This could increase to 6 million standard cubic feet per day using what the company described as “correct completion techniques”.

The company has previously said on its website that it has identified a location for an appraisal well pad in PEDL343. It said:

“Europa regards Cloughton as a gas appraisal opportunity with the critical challenge being to obtain commercial flowrates from future production testing operations.”

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