Drilling blow narrows Lansdowne’s options

Management at Lansdowne Oil and Gas has maintained the company still has a future, despite highly anticipated drilling at one of its assets in the Celtic Sea failing to find any commercial potential.

The Dublin-based exploration firm reported this week that drilling at the Midleton exploration well off the south coast had found some gas, but volumes were not considered commercial; which has resulted in the well being plugged and abandoned.

Lansdowne was a 20% stakeholder in the asset, with Kinsale Energy the operator and 80% majority shareholder taking on board 100% of the drilling costs. Kinsale Energy is the Irish subsidiary of Malaysian explorer Petronas.