Providence reveals more oil off the coast of Ireland
DUBLIN-BASED oil explorer Providence Resources yesterday said estimates of oil found off the coast of southern Ireland have more than trebled, slightly higher than analysts had expected, as it eyes investment from larger players.
Providence said oil in place at the wells stood in a range of 1bn to 1.6bn barrels of oil, against a range of 373m to 893m in previous estimates provided by third-party specialists.
Providence will have to partner with a larger player at some stage to fund further developments at Barryroe, one of its six drilling programmes.
“Putting out this new oil in place figure… is really the starting point for future discussions,” chief executive Tony O’Reilly said.
“By the end of the year we’ll be actively going out into the market, if the market hasn’t already come to us,” he said, citing Premier Oil’s $1bn deal with Rockhopper a fortnight ago as encouraging.