Providence may sell 40% of oil field this year

Providence Resources could sell 40% of its shareholding in the Barryroe oil and gas field, off the Cork coast, later this year.

The Tony O’Reilly Jnr-headed exploration firm announced better-than-anticipated drilling results at Barryroe — which lies 50km off the Cork coast, in the Celtic Sea — in March, making it Ireland’s first commercially-viable oil find.

It has always been Providence’s intention to enter into a farm-out agreement with an international oil company, regarding the asset, in order to save on production and development costs.