Providence Starts Planning Seismic Survey over Drombeg

Irish explorer Providence Resources has begun seismic survey planning over its Drombeg prospect having been awarded Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 2/14.

The license, which contains the Drombeg prospect, follows on from a Licensing Option that Providence and its partner, Sosina Exploration, were awarded as part of the 2011 Irish Atlantic Margin Licensing Round. The Drombeg prospect is estimated to potentially contain 872 million barrels of oil.

Providence said that planning for a 300-square mile 3D seismic survey over the Drombeg prospect has already begun. The company said the main Lower Cretaceous prospect is considered to be of a similar age and depositional setting to prospects being targeted by Kosmos Energy further to the north and east in the basin. Recently, ExxonMobil encountered a residual oil column in an over-pressured carbonate reservoir at Dunquin North, confirming both oil migration and entrapment have occurred within the Lower Cretaceous zone in this part of the basin.

Providence Technical Director John O'Sullivan commented in a company statement:

"Given the significant oil prospectivity, which was highlighted during the Licensing Option phase, it should come as no surprise that we have elected to progress Drombeg to an exploration licence. We envisage the 3D survey both as a tool to allow for further exploration risk mitigation, together with well planning.

"The results of the nearby Dunquin North well confirmed our oil-prone model for the area with the overpressure encountered in that well mitigating top-seal risk at Drombeg. In contrast with the Dunquin North target however, our existing 2D seismic data indicates that active hydrocarbon migration into Drombeg is occurring to the present day."