On the 19 August 2024, Prospex acquired a 7.5% interest in HEYCO Energy Iberia (“HEI”), the operator and majority owner of the Viura natural gas field located in the Province of La Rioja in northern Spain.  HEI acquired its 96.4865% interest in the Viura concession in 2022 and Prospex has a 7.2365% indirect interest.

Viura, one of only two producing onshore gas fields in Spain  was discovered in 2010 and developed over the following decade, now accounting for over 80% of Spain’s domestic natural gas production.  The other onshore producing gas field in Spain is the El Romeral concession in Andalucía in southern Spain in which Prospex has a 49.9% working interest.

The Viura producing gas field has an estimated gross original gas in place of 211 Bcf (6 Bcm) and estimated reserves of 105 Bcf (3 Bcm).  To date, just 16 Bcf (0.5 Bcm) of gas has been produced from Viura meaning that the remaining reserves are 90 Bcf (2.5 Bcm) which is 6.5 Bcf (0.18 Bcm) net to Prospex.

A new 3D seismic survey was acquired in 2013.  There is one well in production in the field, Viura-1ST3, which produces intermittently as water production is managed.  There is a workover underway on an existing well Viura-3 to in order to re-instate its operability as a water injection disposal well to better manage produced water from the existing Viura-1 ST3 production well.  Following the completion of the development well Viura-1B in November 2024, HEI has permits in place to drill another development well Viura 3B, which is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2025.  This new well programme is expected to take production to more than 12 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) and by year end to a peak of 30 MMcfd.   Permits have been submitted to drill a third development well on the concession Viura 3A back-to-back with Viura 3B well.

As a brownfield expansion site, US$87m to date has been spent on the development and building of Viura’s infrastructure, with the project also being linked into the Spanish Gas System of pipelines which connect across the country.

HEI’s more than twenty-year track record as an operator at Viura, and elsewhere across the US and UK represents a low-risk entry point from valuation and operating risk perspectives.

Based on the operator’s estimates, the most likely gas-in place and reserves figures in the Viura gas field and Prospex’s net working interest are in the table below.