Providence Spins Bit Offshore Ireland

Providence has commenced drilling at the Barryroe field, located in Standard Exploration License 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore southern Ireland. Providence holds a 50% interest in the License and operates on behalf of its partners San Leon Energy Plc (30%) and Lansdowne Oil & Gas Plc (20%).

Using the GSF Arctic III (MW semisub), drilling of the Barryroe appraisal well (48/24-J well) commenced on schedule at 9:45am on Sunday, November 20th. The drilling and testing program is scheduled to take approximately 60 days.

The 48/24-J well location and program were finalized using recently processed 3D seismic volume. The well will offset and primarily appraise the previous Marathon Oil operated 48/24-3 (1990) well, which tested c. 45 degree API light sweet oil at c. 1,600 bopd from Base Cretaceous sands. Using the latest technology, the 48/24-J well is planned to acquire a modern set of wire-line logs, together with an orientated conventional core through the primary objective. These new data will be important in understanding the reservoir architecture, inverting the 3D seismic volume and defining the resource base for this reservoir interval. In addition, it is planned to test the well using vacuum insulated tubing (VIT), which has proven to be key when dealing with high pour point crudes such as those seen in the original well. Data in overlying secondary objectives will also be acquired as these have tested at rates of c. 1,500 bopd from two previous wells on the Barryroe structure. The objective will be to demonstrate commercial flow rates of 1,800 bopd or better from this vertical well.

Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Providence said, "We are extremely pleased to announce the commencement of drilling operations at Barryroe. This is a very exciting time for Providence and its shareholders and we look forward to updating the market on the progress from this well."


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