Ireland-based oil and gas exploration company Providence Resources is finalizing an agreement for the provision of a drilling rig to be used for drilling the Druid prospect, offshore Ireland.
The company issued a tender for a rig contract for the Druid exploration well, in Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 2/14 in the southern Porcupine Basin, in September this year.
FEL 2/14 is located c. 220 km off the south-west coast of Ireland and is situated in c. 2,250 meter water depth. The license is operated by Providence, with 80% stake, on behalf of its partner Sosina Exploration Limited, that holds the remaining 20% stake, and contains the Paleocene Druid and Lower Cretaceous Drombeg exploration prospects.
As part of the ongoing operational build-up to the drilling of the exploration well on the Druid prospect in 2017, the company said on Tuesday it recently completed an evaluation of available and capable deep-water drilling units through a rig tender process.
This process identified a number of suitable units and, according to EU procurement rules, the company has now issued a letter of intent to a contender for the provision of these services. Providence said that the parties will now proceed to finalize a contract over the coming weeks. The spud date is set for June 2017.
Tony O’Reilly , Chief Executive of Providence Resources said: “This is another key milestone for our planned drilling at Druid, further demonstrating the progress that we are making in pursuing the continued development of our significant portfolio offshore Ireland.”