Providence Increases Stake in Dunquin South Prospect

Irish explorer Providence Resources announced Monday that it has agreed to buy Atlantic Petroleum's four-percent stake in Frontier Exploration Licence 3/04, which contains the Lower Cretaceous Dunquin South carbonate prospect offshore southwest Ireland. As a result of the deal, Providence's equity in FEL 3/04 will increase from 16 percent to 20 percent. 

Lying in the southern Porcupine Basin, the Dunquin South prospect is estimated to contain approximately 1.389 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The nearby Dunquin North exploration well (44/23-1), drilled by Exxon in 2013, encountered a 144-foot residual oil column in a massive porous over-pressed Lower Cretaceous carbonate reservoir.

Providence CEO Tony O'Reilly commented in a company statement:

"We have availed of this opportunity to increase our equity interest in FEL 3/04, which contains the material Dunquin South exploration prospect. The 44/23-1 well results have de-risked many of the elements of the petroleum system and we therefore believe that, on a risked basis, Dunquin South is an attractive exploration prospect.

"Increasing our equity in FEL 3/04 also reflects our continued corporate commitment and strategic exploration focus on the vast and under-explored deep-water southern Porcupine Basin, which we believe contains all of the elements required to host giant hydrocarbon accumulations."