Prospex reports 230pc rise in net gas production
By Josh White
Date: Tuesday 25 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - Prospex Energy reported a 230% increase in net gas production since January 2024 in an update on Tuesday, with current output across its Viura, Selva, and El Romeral assets reaching approximately 86,000 standard cubic metres per day.
The AIM-traded company said it was continuing to advance its development and drilling schedules across its European portfolio.
It said the Viura field, which accounted for 55% of its net production, produced an average of 323,000 standard cubic metres per day in January, with Prospex's share at 47,000 standard cubic metres per day.
Two new development wells, Viura-3A and Viura-3B, were scheduled to spud in April, with long-lead equipment procurement progressing.
The Spanish Ministry approved the Viura-3A drilling permit in January, with Viura-3B's approval secured in 2024.
At the Selva field in Italy, which contributes 35% of net production, output in January averaged 80,000 standard cubic metres per day, with Prospex's share at 30,000 standard cubic metres per day.
The acquisition of 3D seismic data had been rescheduled for the third and fourth quarters of 2025 to accommodate the Po Valley's agricultural planting season, but no significant delays to drilling were anticipated.
Permit applications for four new wells were submitted in December, with drilling expected to start in late 2025 or early 2026, pending full regulatory approvals.
The El Romeral site in Spain, which provides 10% of net production, averaged 18,000 standard cubic metres per day in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In January, a failure in the site's 9MW transformer temporarily halted electricity generation, but operations resumed on 1 February with a higher-specification rental transformer.
The permitting process for five new wells was progressing, with the statutory consultation period for the environmental impact assessment set to conclude on 4 April.
"The company is embarking on an exciting phase of its organic growth strategy with plans to drill 11 natural gas wells across its three production concessions within the next 18 months," said chief executive officer Mark Routh.
"Two of these wells, Viura-3A and Viura-3B are already fully permitted.
"The four wells in northern Italy and the five wells in southern Spain are progressing through the necessary regulatory and permitting processes in order to secure the full legal rights to drill once the environmental impact assessments have been evaluated and approved."
Routh said that with energy security rising to the top of the agenda for most European nations, there was now a favourable sentiment for expanding the development of onshore, indigenous natural gas.
"Such natural gas production has a fraction of the carbon footprint when compared with the importation of natural gas by pipeline over long distances and an even smaller fraction when compared to the importation of liquefied natural gas.
"Ideally, Prospex will be able to fund the development of the new wells from existing revenues, limiting shareholder dilution."
However, Mark Routh said that was dependent on a number of factors including the continued and uninterrupted production of gas, gas and electricity prices, the timing of bringing the new wells into production, which was subject to permitting, and the availability of other sources of finance.
"The company has made significant operational advances in the last six months and I look forward to updating shareholders on our continued progress."
At 1230 GMT, shares in Prospex Energy were down 2.9% at 6.7p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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