Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) (AIM:EOG) has extended the 'Longstop' deadline for completing the farm-out of a 40% stake in the EG-08 production sharing contract offshore Equatorial Guinea to 30 October.
The AIM-listed West Africa, UK and Ireland-focused explorer has now pushed the deadline back four times since the deal was first struck in June, as Outbound Direct Investment approval from the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission continues to lag behind expectations.
The transaction involves Europa's associated company, Antler Global, in which it holds a 42.9% equity interest, farming out the stake to Fuhai (Beijing) Energy.
Equatorial Guinea's Ministry for Mining and Hydrocarbons Department approved the deal on 29 May, but new Chinese outbound investment rules effective from 1 July have slowed the Beijing regulator's process, pushing the target spud date for the Barracuda-1 well back to the first half of 2027 from a prior late-2026 timeline.
"While ODI approval is taking longer than anticipated, the direction of travel is clear," said chief executive William Holland, adding that Fuhai's application "continues to be processed" and that the company is using the delay to prepare for drilling.
On completion, Antler will hold a 40% working interest in EG-08 and retain operatorship, with Fuhai taking 40% and state-owned GEPetrol holding the remaining 20%.
Europa reported £2.8m in cash at 30 June, following a £4.1m fundraise in March, against UK onshore production averaging 90 barrels of oil equivalent per day at its Wressle asset.