Providence Resources P.l.c., the London (AIM) and Dublin (ESM) quoted oil and gas exploration and production company, provides a further market update on its ongoing drilling programme in the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore southern Ireland.
The 48/24-10z Barryroe appraisal well is located in c. 100 metre water depth, c. 50 kilometres offshore Ireland in Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. Providence (80%) operates SEL 1/11 on behalf of its partner Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc (20%).
Drilling Operations
The original drilling timeline was initially set back by weather and later by rig performance issues which significantly delayed the drilling of the 12.25” section. Drilling of this section recommenced on February 2nd, when the necessary rig repairs and maintenance programmes were completed by the rig owner. The current well depth is 6,969‟ TVDSS at the base of the 12.25” section, with all key geological horizons to date having been encountered in line with pre-drill depth prognosis.
Preliminary Results – Secondary Objective
Hydrocarbon shows were encountered during the drilling of the 12.25” section, which contains a number of potential secondary reservoir units. Preliminary real time LWD data demonstrates excellent sandstone package correlation with the nearby 48/24-3 well.
Forward Activities – Primary Objective
The forward programme includes a comprehensive wire-line data acquisition programme of this drilled 12.25”section, utilizing modern „state of the art‟ down-hole tools, after which the section will be cased.
Subsequent operations will include coring of the underlying primary reservoir zone, which is the main focus of this drilling programme. Following this, it is planned to carry out drill stem testing of the primary basal sands target in order to ascertain flow rates and productivity.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Tony O‟Reilly, CEO said:
“The 48/24-10z preliminary well results indicate the presence of hydrocarbons within the secondary objective overlying our main basal sandstone target. We will evaluate and integrate these well data with our newly processed 3D seismic in order to fully assess its incremental resource potential.
Most importantly, operations to evaluate the underlying primary Barryroe reservoir objective have now commenced and we look forward to further updating shareholders once the drilling phase of the programme has been completed.”
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , February 09, 2012; Image: Providence