Providence upgrades oil field reserves

PROVIDENCE Resources said seismic testing results at one of its British-based assets show it could hold significantly more oil than estimated.

The onshore Baxter’s Copse discovery, which is equally owned by Providence and the London-headquartered Northern Petroleum, is based in the south of England near the 800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) producing Singleton oil field, which is 99% owned by Providence. The recent seismic work at Baxter’s Copse has resulted in Providence upgrading the site’s resource estimates to 33 million barrels of oil (MMBO).

The Dublin-based oil and gas exploration company, headed up by Tony O’Reilly Jnr, now expects to start drilling on the site next year. Mr O’Reilly said: “The deployment of modern seismic processing technologies has been the key to understanding the potential of the Baxter’s Copse discovery and this, together with our recent redevelopment activities at the Singleton field, bode well for the ultimate exploitation of these significant reserves.”

Meanwhile, Tullow Oil said newly completed drilling results in two wells in its Kasamene oil and gas field in Uganda’s Lake Albert Rift Basin confirm not only the well viability in the area but also the presence of “extensive oil-bearing sands“. Tullow exploration director Angus McCoss said the news was a first step towards first oil from Tullow’s Ugandan operations.