NOTICE DIRECTING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF CARRYING OUT STAGE II APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT

On 5th June, 2019 Europa Oil & Gas (Kiely East) Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC) (‘Europa’) submitted an application to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) seeking approval to carry out a geophysical and environmental site survey under frontier exploration licence (FEL) 2/13. The name of the proposed survey is the “Kiely East Survey” and will focus on the “Kiely East” prospect, being located in licensing blocks 43/14, 43/15, 43/19 and 43/20 in the northwest Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland.

It is proposed that survey operations will be undertaken by a single survey team between June and late November 2019. Excluding weather and technical downtime, survey operations are expected to take a total of 14 survey working days. If the survey has not commenced or concluded in 2019, operations will be undertaken sometime between early-February 2020 and late November 2020.

The following documents were submitted with the Europa application:-

(i) Kiely East Prospect Site Survey: Screening for EIA and ERA Report, prepared by RPS on behalf of Europa; (ii) Kiely East Prospect Site Survey: Screening for Appropriate Assessment and Natura Impact Statement Report, prepared by RPS on behalf of Europa; (iii) Kiely East Prospect Site Survey: Survey Technical Specifications Report, prepared by RPS on behalf of Europa; (iv) Kiely East Prospect Site Survey: Pre-Survey Fisheries Assessment Report, prepared by RPS on behalf of Europa.

On 5th November 2019, a determination was made, following screening under Regulation 42 of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 477 of 2011), as amended, that a Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment is required to be carried out in respect of the Europa Kiely East Survey, as it cannot be excluded on the basis of objective scientific information that the survey, individually or in combination with other plans or projects, will have a significant effect on a European Site.

Additional Information Required

Regulation 42(3) of the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 477 of 2011), as amended, provides as follows:-

(3) At any time following an application for consent for a plan or project, a public authority may give a notice in writing to the applicant, directing him or her to—

(a) furnish a Natura Impact Statement and the applicant shall furnish the statement within the period specified in the notice, and

(b) furnish any additional information that the public authority considers necessary for the purposes of this Regulation. Having reviewed the material submitted by Europa with the application, in particular, the Screening for Appropriate Assessment and Natura Impact Statement Report and the conclusions reached in the Appropriate Assessment Screening and NIS Review for Europa Kiely East Site Survey Report, prepared by Ramboll, I agree with and adopt the recommendation made by Ramboll that the additional information specified below is required for the purposes of carrying out a Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment of the Europa Kiely East Survey.

Pursuant to Regulation 42(3) of the Birds and Natural Habitats Regulations, Europa is hereby directed to provide the additional information set out below, which is necessary for the purposes of carrying out a Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment in respect of the application:-

 An anticipated line plan or expected line distance over which the geophysical data could be acquired for the proposed survey is required;

 The vessel should be finalised and the details provided as soon as known, otherwise indicative equipment and vessel detail needs to be provided including references for noise levels etc;

 Further information of procedures for night working and the use of PAM should be provided

 The limits of the spatial extent for screening in projects for in combination assessment should be provided;

 Details for all Natura 2000 sites need to be complete and included within the NIS and in line with the assessment criteria outline in Table 4.1 and 4.2 in the Ramboll report;

 Both the SACs and SPAs should be screened in for assessment based on the foraging ranges of the species present rather than limiting screening to the nearest four or five. The omitted sites that should be included are listed below. This also includes the most obvious omissions that need to be included, but other sites need to be checked and reported within the NIS. The mean max foraging range as per Thaxter et al. (2012) should be used;

o Lower Shannon River SAC o Glengarriff Harbour and Woodland SAC o Roaringwater Bay and Islands SAC o The Bull and Cow Rocks SPA o SPA o Skelligs SPA o Puffin Island SPA o Iveragh Peninsula SPA o Castlemaine Harbour SAC o Blackwater River ( Kerry) SAC o National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC o Beara Peninsula SPA

o and SPA o Peninsula SPA

 The indirect effects of underwater noise on prey availability for designated species needs to be considered;

 The assessment of Annex II and IV species needs to be included within the NIS report for completeness;

 Conservation status of Species under Annex II of the Habitats Directive and Annex I of the Birds Directive is required;

 All European site information for the omitted sites is required;

 Spatial and temporal mapping of the species at each site is required;

 Consideration of the potential for likely Ecosystem structure and functioning of the sites is required;

 Further information on the role of each site within the Natura 2000 network is required;

 A revised statement as to residual effects following mitigation should be made based on the consideration of all relevant European sites, Annex II and Annex IV species.

Please note that when the additional information has been received from Europa it will be published on the Department website and the public invited to make observations thereon during a 21day consultation period, which observations will be taken into account for the purposes of carrying out a Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment of the Europa Kiely East Survey application.

5th November, 2019

Signed:

______Jean Clarke, Senior Advisor