Oil giant ExxonMobil has said it has no intention of pulling out of Irish waters, despite disappointing early drilling results from the highly-anticipated Dunquin prospect off the Kerry coast — in which it is a senior partner — last month.

Drilling activity has formally started at the Dunquin exploration prospect off the Kerry coast.

ExxonMobil is gearing up to finally begin drilling off the coast at the highly-anticipated Dunquin prospect, with the rig arriving in Cork late last week for preparation.

Global energy giant Exxon Mobil is due to start a $140m (€108m) exploratory drilling programme for gas and oil off the south- west coast.

Irish mineral exploration company, Ormonde Mining has raised £1.4m (€1.7m) in fresh funding via a new share placing.

The Barryroe oil field off Co Cork could produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, or a total of 280m barrels of recoverable oil over a 25-year lifespan.

After striking it rich off the Cork coast, exploration company Providence and its prospecting partners have lined up a specialist rig to try to find oil in difficult, deep waters 200km off the Kerry coast.

Argentina’s president has granted vast new power over the nation’s economy to a young firebrand who was the brains behind the takeover of YPF from Spain’s Repsol oil company.

Drilling is expected to start next year on the Dunquin oil and gas licence off the West coast of Ireland — which is 16%-owned by Providence Resources.

Prime Minister David Cameron today confronted Argentina’s president over the Falklands, as the two met on the margins of the G20 summit in Mexico.

Argentina’s takeover of its formerly state-owned energy company from Spanish shareholders won easy approval from legislators.

An EU-Mercosur trade treaty feared by European farmers is on course to be derailed by radical protectionist moves by Argentina.

William Hague hit out at Argentina tonight after the government said it was seizing a Spanish-controlled energy firm.

In a bold move to gain control of Argentina’s energy reserves, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner pushed forward a bill to renationalise the country’s largest oil company despite fierce criticism from abroad and the risk of a major rift with Spain.

IRELAND has upped its efforts to discover offshore oil by yesterday awarding 13 new licensing options.

Bolivian officials said new natural gas deposits were discovered by drilling deeper in a 25-year-old well in the country’s southeast and the find will add a trillion cubic feet to national reserves.

JENSON BUTTON fears Jaime Alguersuari could destroy his career when he becomes the youngest driver to race in Formula One this weekend.

Jenson Button fears Jaime Alguersuari could destroy his career when he becomes the youngest driver to race in Formula One this weekend.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela were heading today to a European summit amid criticism of recent moves making it tougher for foreign energy firms to do business in their countries.

Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across Bolivia today after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalised, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they handed over production control within six months.

The London market recovered some of its earlier losses today as a fall in US consumer confidence allayed fears of US rate rises.

Six companies have agreed to buy 10 million barrels of Iraqi oil, marking the battered country’s first major oil export since the invasion by the US and Britain.

MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi could miss the FIM‘s annual awards ceremony in his native Italy on Saturday.

Argentina’s economy minister announced a sharp devaluation of the peso, overriding foreign investors’ concerns and ending a decade-long policy pegging the currency one-to-one with the US dollar.