At the Wellhead: long Irish efforts pay off in an oil find
It's been a long time coming, but oil has flowed out of an Irish well. Platts' Ireland correspondent Kieran Moran has the story in this week's Oilgram News column, At the Wellhead.
It has taken over forty years and 156 exploration and appraisal wells, but last month a well drilled offshore Ireland finally produced commercial quantities of oil giving a long-awaited boost to hydrocarbon exploration in Ireland.
While there have been numerous hydrocarbon shows in Irish waters, commercial finds have remained frustratingly elusive. Ireland has just three producing fields--all gas--with a fourth, the beleaguered Corrib gas field due on stream in 2015.
It is appropriate that Ireland's first potentially significant oil field should be licensed to Dublin- and London-listed junior Providence Resources.
The company was founded in 1997 but traces its beginnings back to 1981 when a predecessor company Atlantic Resources was founded by Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the father of current CEO Tony O'Reilly Jr.
The company is almost exclusively focused on Ireland and holds exploration licenses and licensing options covering substantial acreage around Ireland's entire coastline.
In a recent interview with O'Reilly and John O'Sullivan, Providence's technical director, there was considerable confidence that recent well results from the Barryroe field will materially change not only Providence but the potential for oil and gas exploration in Ireland's offshore....MORE
