New licence for Providence Resources

PROVIDENCE Resources, controlled by the family of Independent News & Media boss, Tony O’Reilly, has secured a new licence close to the Seven Heads Gas Field off Kinsale.

Providence has a 30% stake in the licence granted to Lansdowne which has a 40% stake with Island Oil & Gas holding the other 30% share. Lansdowne will operate the licence for the period of time up to and including the acquisition of any seismic data.

Providence will then take charge of any drilling and development activities, if the programme delivers a commercial oil find, it said.

Three previous wells tested oil at between 1,300 and 1,600 barrels of oil per day.

The oil was light crude and the group believes it has potential development synergies with other Celtic Sea projects under review.

The company said the licence was renamed Barryroe to avoid confusion with the Seven Heads Gas Field which is partly situated above the deeper oil accumulations in the area.

Already within that area oil has been successfully tested with flow rates of between 1,300 and 1,600 barrels of oil per day, from three exploration or appraisal wells.

“The significant increase in the price of oil since 2006 has materially improved the likelihood that these reserves could be exploited commercially,” said the company.

The group said overcoming the technical difficulties previously identified with recovering the oil will be the main aim of this latest exploration programme on the site.