The commencement of the long-awaited drilling campaign at the Barryroe oil and gas field off the Cork coast is expected to be pushed into next year.

Providence Resources has said it has received "further assurances" that a $9m (€8m) development loan to fund work at its flagship Barryroe field, off the Cork coast, is "in the process of being paid".

Irish exploration company Providence Resources is set to commence a long-awaited site survey of its flagship Barryroe field later this month after finally receiving formal approval from the Government.

Approval and funding delays could push a long-awaited multi-well drilling campaign at the Barryroe oil and gas field, off the Cork coast, into 2020, a UK broker has said.

Shares in Providence Resources have risen on the back of the oil and gas exploration company indicating that funds necessary to progress the development of its flagship Barryroe field, off the Cork coast, will be forthcoming.

Shares in Irish oil and gas exploration company Providence Resources fell 16% on news of a further delay to a $9m (€8m) funding advance for its flagship Barryroe field off the Cork coast.

Providence Resources shares plummeted by more than 20% on the back of a further delay to planned drilling at the company's flagship Barryroe oil and gas field off the Cork coast.

Withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership will reduce US influence in Asia as China and Japan gain ground, writes Kevin Rudd.

President Donald Trump has denounced China for unfair trade practices just a day after he heaped praise on President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

President Donald Trump has delivered what appeared to be a sharp rebuke to China.

BEIJING BONUS

Asia-Pacific nations including China, the US and Japan promised measures to boost growth yesterday and rejected limits on food exports to try to revive the flagging global economy.

Pacific Rim leaders have pledged to fend off the damage from the European crisis, by supporting open trade, reforming their economies and strengthening public finances.

Asia and Pacific leaders meeting in the Russian seaport of Vladivostok are hoping to push ahead with their agenda for free trade this weekend.

THE US and eight other Pacific Rim nations aim to forge a free-trade pact before President Barack Obama hosts an APEC summit in Hawaii in a year, Chile’s president said yesterday.

President Barack Obama claimed today he had a stronger hand on the world stage despite electoral defeats at home, failure to get a free-trade agreement with South Korea and lacklustre international support for his policy with China on trade and currency disputes.

US President George W. Bush got a second bloc of world leaders to endorse comprehensive action to remedy the global financial crisis. But his successor, Barack Obama, is already setting the coming economic agenda.

FIRST he thanks Australian Prime Minister John Howard for sending troops to Iraq. Then he says English is his “second language” and how happy he is to be at the OPEC summit meeting (instead of APEC).

Pacific Rim leaders today pledged political will and flexibility to rescue faltering global trade talks after forging an agreement to curb climate change they hope will influence a new global strategy on the problem.

Pacific Rim leaders today agreed that the world needs to “slow, stop and then reverse” greenhouse gas emissions, and adopted goals on reducing energy intensity and reforestation as part of the effort.

President Bush today urged Asia-Pacific nations to keep up the anti-terror fight, deploying both military might and democratic ideals to turn the tide against extremists.

Australia today said it would press ahead with plans to urge Pacific Rim countries to agree that limiting greenhouse gas emissions should be part of a new international pact on global warming.

World leaders attending an annual Pacific Rim summit will call for urgent progress in stalled global trade talks, according to a draft statement, but their officials struggled today to find consensus on another issue – climate change.

US President George Bush today backed Pacific Rim leaders in demanding that the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

US president George Bush today urged a tough line in implementing UN sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear test at a Pacific Rim summit, where he is also pushing a US-backed proposal for a regional free-trade zone.

George Bush was expected to hold a highly unusual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today when the US president’s plane makes a refuelling stop at a Moscow airport on the way to Asia.

Police found two bombs, explosive powder, cables and shrapnel in the house of a man suspected in a blast at an American fast food restaurant in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, investigators said today, suggesting more attacks were planned.

Asia-Pacific leaders including US president George Bush and China’s Hu Jintao sought to breathe life into stalled global trade negotiations at an annual summit today with a statement calling for a breakthrough in a stalemate with Europe over agricultural subsidies.

Asia-Pacific leaders called on Europe to be more flexible at world trade negotiations as they opened an annual summit today, warning crucial talks next month on freeing markets could be a last chance to make progress toward that goal.

Asia-Pacific leaders opened their annual summit today where they were expected launch a bid to revive stalled global free trade talks and pledge unity in combating bird flu and terrorism.

US President George Bush arrived in Japan today to begin an eight-day tour through Asia for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in South Korea.

Asia-Pacific leaders will pledge to cooperate in developing a vaccine against a possible bird flu-spawned pandemic, an official said, as the European Union’s health commissioner headed to Indonesia today to discuss ways to boost the country’s fight against the virus.

China reported its seventh and eighth bird flu outbreaks in three weeks, as Australia’s foreign minister said today that he will urge Pacific Rim nations to think creatively about how to tackle the threat at a meeting of regional leaders.

Australia would consider shutting its borders if bird flu triggered a lethal human pandemic in the region, Australia’s foreign minister said today as disaster co-ordinators from Pacific rim countries gathered in Brisbane to discuss ways to head off such a crisis.

International air travel would virtually stop if bird flu triggered a lethal human pandemic in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia’s health minister said today, as Chinese media reported plummeting poultry sales in Beijing and Shanghai.

At least 25,000 protesters opposed to George Bush, the war in Iraq and unfettered capitalism marched through the Chilean capital Santiago just before the American president arrived for a weekend summit of 21 Pacific Rim economies.

NORTH KOREA, in a significant shift in a year-old nuclear crisis, said it was prepared to consider a US offer of security guarantees in return for Pyongyang dropping its atomic weapons programme.

Asian and Pacific nation leaders today promised a crackdown against terrorist groups and tougher steps to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

ALLEGED extremist leader Hambali was targeting US interests before he was captured, Thailand said as Indonesia said nine people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta.

TRADE ministers in Asia-Pacific countries are to endorse an emergency SARS recovery plan, as China reported no deaths for the first time in seven weeks.

The US economy is likely to grow by between 2.5% and 3.5% this year, avoiding a slide back into recession, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) president Martin Feldstein said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with President George Bush in the near future, making up a summit that was cancelled due to the Chechen hostage crisis in Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Mihkail Kasyanov said.