Dalkey Island Project, Offshore Ireland, Entering Drilling Phase

Providence Resources P.l.c., (“Providence”) the Irish oil and gas exploration and production company, whose shares are listed in London (AIM) and Dublin (ESM), provides an update on its Dalkey Island exploration prospect in the Kish Bank Basin, offshore eastern Ireland.

The Dalkey Island prospect is located c. 10 km offshore eastern Ireland in c. 25 metre water depth. Providence holds an operated 50% equity interest in Licensing Option 08/2 (LO 08/2) together with its partner, Star Energy Group.

The Dalkey Island partners have recently applied to have LO 08/2 converted into a Standard Exploration Licence by committing to a future work programme which includes the drilling of one exploration well. As part of these activities, the partners have commenced the application process for a foreshore licence over the area in order to carry out well site survey and drilling operations. Providence also recently commissioned a third party geochemical study on residual oil samples from a nearby well which has confirmed the presence of a highly mature Paleozoic marine oil prone source rock in the Kish Bank Basin.

Speaking today, John O’Sullivan, Technical Director of Providence said;

 “Having completed our technical assessment of the basin, the partners have elected to progress the Dalkey Island prospect into the drilling phase. Whilst considerable exploration risk still exists, the recent additional studies, which have revealed evidence of a highly mature oil prone source rock in the basin, have provided significant encouragement as a similar interval is considered to be the source for the prolific producing oilfields in the Liverpool Bay Area, offshore UK. ”

Previous exploration drilling in the Kish Bank Basin has confirmed the potential for petroleum generation with oil shows seen in a number of wells together with natural hydrocarbon seeps recorded from airborne  surveys. New analysis of vintage 2-D seismic data has revealed the presence of a large undrilled structural closure at Lower Triassic level situated c. 10 km offshore Dublin. This feature, known as the Dalkey Island  exploration prospect, may be prospective for oil, as there are prolific oil productive Lower Triassic reservoirs nearby in the eastern Irish Sea offshore Liverpool. Whilst the Dalkey Island exploration prospect could contain c. 870 MMBO in place, this undrilled prospect still has significant risk and the partners are currently advancing a focused work programme in order to better understand and hopefully mitigate these risks. However, given its location in shallow water and close proximity to shore, the prospect is of great interest as exploration drilling, together with any future development costs are likely to be low.

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Source:Providence Resources ,September 22, 2011;