Barryroe secures €40m in new funding to proceed to next phase of drilling off Cork coast

The Barryroe gas field off the coast of Co Cork. Picture: Finbarr O'Rourke

Oil and gas exploration firm Barryroe has secured €40m in new funding from Larry Goodman’s Veven Unlimited to allow it to proceed to the next phase of drilling off the Cork coast.

In an update to the London Stock Exchange this morning, Barryroe said it had received communication from the Department of the Environment that it had not yet supplied sufficient financial details to get awarded the Barryroe Lease Undertaking.

The company said it has gone back to its major shareholders and has now agreed a funding arrangement with its existing shareholder Vevan to underwrite all of the expected funding required to undertake the work programme.

Barryroe’s CEO Alan Curran said drilling operations were now likely to commence in 2024, weather permitting.

Barryroe said it has submitted the additional information regarding the new funding to the Department.

“Following the communication from the GeoScience Regulation Office in late October, we have worked to resolve the issues DECC [the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications] identified in relation to the Lease Undertaking application,” Mr Curran said.

“Subject to Ministerial consent, once the Lease Undertaking is in place, we will rapidly move to commence preparations for drilling operations. Well planning and the optimal weather window indicates this is now likely to be in 2024. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our shareholders for their continuing support,” he said.

The fresh funding is the latest in a series of efforts to extract oil and gas from the Barryroe field off the Cork coast. Previous appraisal wells have found that the site has the potential to deliver more than 300 million barrels of oil.