Providence Resources, an Irish oil and gas exploration company, has been granted an extension for its Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11, offshore Ireland.
The license which contains the Barryroe oil accumulation is operated by Providence’s wholly owned subsidiary Exola DAC that holds 80 percent interest, with Lansdowne Celtic Sea Limited holding the remaining 20 percent interest.
The area lies in around 100 meters of water in the North Celtic Sea Basin and is some 50 kilometers off the south coast of Ireland.
Providence said on Thursday that the partners were awarded a two-year extension to the term of the First Phase of SEL 1/11 to July 2019 and overall term to July 2021 by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action & Environment of Ireland.
The extension is subject to the Barryroe partners carrying out a work program that includes the evaluation of newly reprocessed 3D seismic data together with an assessment of the Jurassic and Triassic exploration potential of the license area.
Tony O’Reilly , CEO of Providence, said: “We are very pleased to be granted these extensions to the Barryroe license, which provides additional security of tenure while we continue the farm-out process.
“The partners are in dialogue with a number of parties regarding advancing the appraisal of Barryroe to first oil. The extension work program includes evaluating the deeper exploration potential of the license, which offers exciting upside, over and above the substantial resources already identified in Barryroe.”
To remind, the previous extension for this license was awarded to Providence in November 2015 . The first phase extension was awarded until July 2017 while the overall term was awarded until July 2019.