Prospex Energy, the AIM quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, 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 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.'
Background
Prospex acquired a 49.9% interest in the El Romeral gas power project situated in southern Spain, in March 2021, through its Spanish affiliate, Tarba Energía, with JV partner Warrego Energy.
The El Romeral Licence Area is an exciting project with ongoing production from three wells; El Ciervo-1, Santa Clara-1 and Sevilla-1. Prospex and partner Warrego Energy acquired the three blocks with existing gas production, facilities and infrastructure in March 2021 for an initial consideration of €750,000, from Petroleum Oil and Gas España S.A., a subsidiary of leading Spanish electricity company, Naturgy Energy Group.
The asset has historically been explored by Chevron and Repsol among others. Centred on a robust set of well data, including over 500 km of 2D seismic lines with AVO analysis, historic exploration has led to seven geological gas discoveries with five of them commercial. The area includes the El Romeral gas-to-power station, housing three Jenbacher gas engines, converting gas to electricity. The area encompasses 25 Km of local gas pipeline, connecting existing production to the power station. A 26-inch gas pipeline operated by ENAGAS, the leading national gas distributor in Spain, also runs through the concessions. This pipeline has more than 50% spare capacity. This offers more options for offtake in the future, if we were to exceed the capacity of the power plant.
In 2022 a 41.5kW array of 83 solar panels were installed on the roof of El Romeral power plant that helps power the ancillary services at the plant leading to reduced self-consumption and increased sales. Payback from this investment is estimated to be three to four years.
There are now further plans for a renewable co-generation project via a proposed 5 MW solar farm adjacent to El Romeral which is currently out to tender following completion of the FEED stage.
Source: Prospex Energy
