There is plenty of hype around Ireland’s oil exploration sector, but there have also been numerous disappointments. With the Barryroe bonanza this week, could the country be set for a new boom, asks Kyran Fitzgerald

Although the commercial viability of the Barryroe oil field has been established, the next stage is by no means risk-free.

PROVIDENCE Resources is planning to start drilling at its much anticipated Spanish Point prospect in 2012, following seismic studies suggesting the licence is likely to become a commercial development.

PROVIDENCE Resources, the Irish oil and natural-gas explorer, said it began to produce natural gas at its Vermillion 60 field off the US state of Louisiana.

PROVIDENCE Resources is to start drilling in its Blackrock prospect off the Cork coast as soon as the drill arrives from Holland.