Providence has ‘modest aspirations’ despite expecting further growth
Earlier this year, the company which is quoted on AIM and the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) reported a year-on-year rise of 23% in turnover for the first half of the year.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Mr O'Reilly said the company's shareholders could look forward to an interesting year in 2006.
He said that, with a number of new rigs being built in Irish waters and international industry interest in Ireland as a drilling location increasing all the time, new opportunities could arise.
This could result in Providence entering more farm-out partnerships.
This entails exploration companies giving other companies equity shares in exchange for them covering all drilling costs and is standard practice in the industry.
Providence has also announced that production at the X-9 well at the Singleton Oil Well in the south of England has been successfully brought on stream. Drilling at the nearby X-8x well is expected to begin next week.
Mr O'Reilly said the aim is to significantly increase the company's production at the site in the coming years.
"We have modest aspirations," he added.
"We're not looking to start producing 20,000 barrels per day by tomorrow. We're currently producing 100 barrels on a daily basis and we hope to increase that to between 2,000 and 3,000 barrels within a couple of years."
Singleton, in which the company owns a 20% equity interest, is currently Providence's only onshore interest and Mr O'Reilly claims that the company will be considering more on-land projects as "the market, when it comes to daily oil production, is probably a lot easier than off-shore."
Providence's main focus areas are Ireland (Celtic Sea, St George's Channel and the Porcupine Basin/Spanish Point field off the west coast), Britain and Nigeria, where it holds a 6.3% interest in the Aje Field.
