Providence Resources, the Irish based Oil and Gas Exploration Company, has been granted an extension to its Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11 that contains the Barryroe oil field and is located offshore Ireland.
The licence is operated by Providence’s wholly owned subsidiary Exola Limited that holds 80% interest, with Lansdowne Oil & Gas Plc holding the remaining 20% interest. The area lies in c. 100 metre water depth in the North Celtic Sea Basin and is c. 50 km off the south coast of Ireland.
The Barryroe partners have been granted a 2-year extension to the term of the first phase of SEL 1/11 (to July 2017) as well as an extension to the term of the second phase (to July 2019) by the Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources.
According to Providence, the areal extent of SEL 1/11 has also been increased by c. 118 km2 to accommodate for mapped potential extensions of the Barryroe accumulation into an adjacent area that had been formerly held by Exola and Lansdowne within Licensing Option 12/4, which has now lapsed.
Tony O’Reilly , Chief Executive of Providence, said, “We are very pleased to announce these extensions to the Barryroe licence which provide additional security of tenure whilst also consolidating the upside resource potential that we have identified in the immediately adjacent acreage.”
Stephen Boldy , Chief Executive of Lansdowne Oil & Gas, commented: “The extensions to both the term and the area of the Barryroe licence will provide the current partners with greater security of tenure as we seek to advance the project. It also ensures that the SEL 1/11 partners will benefit from any further upside resource potential in the area immediately adjacent to the previous licence boundary.”