Gas field 3 times bigger than expected

PROVIDENCE Resources has said its Dragon gas discovery off the south-east coast could be three times bigger than initially thought.

The Dublin-headquartered oil and gas exploration company, which is shortly due to commence the biggest drilling campaign in Irish waters, said yesterday that tentative results from new technical third party seismic studies suggest the St George’s Channel-based discovery could actually measure up to 300 billion standard cubic feet, rather than the initially forecast 100bn standard cubic feet.

That measurement equates to an increase in total reserve potential from about 16 million barrels of oil equivalent to 50m barrels of oil equivalent.

In all, the entire field could be one sixth of the size of the Kinsale Head gas field. The overriding significance of the tests is that the potential extension to the Dragon gas field is in Irish waters. Providence controls 25% of the existing portion of the field, which lies in British waters.

The company, however, owns 100% of the field lying in Irish waters.

“The results are extremely positive, particularly from an Irish perspective, as they suggest a more extensive gas-bearing reservoir system, extending much further into Irish waters,” said Providence’s technical director John O’Sullivan.

Providence is to drill at the Dragon field next year.

Meanwhile, analysts have described as concerning commentary from Ghana’s state oil company, GNPC, that continues to point to a shortfall in production from the country’s Jubilee field, majority of which is owned by Tullow Oil.