Providence to return APEC’s Barryroe stake to original owners

Irish oil and gas company Providence Resources has started the regulatory process of transferring APEC’s 50 percent equity in the Barryroe license back to its original owners.

After not receiving any funds from its Chinese partner APEC for the Barryroe license off Ireland and not agreeing on any further extension, APEC no longer has exclusivity over the license.

The SEL 1/11, which contains the Barryroe oil accumulation, is operated by Providence subsidiary Exola (40%) with partners APEC Energy (50%) and Lansdowne (10%).

The area lies in c. 100-meter water depth in the North Celtic Sea Basin and is located c. 50 km off the south coast of Ireland.

Providence said on Thursday that Exola started the transfer of APEC’s equity in SEL 1/11 back to the original owners. This will result in Exola and Lansdowne reverting to their original 80% and 20% interest respectively.

The company added that Exola, as operator of Barryroe, restarted the farm-out process and that a number of companies were actively assessing the field data.

The Barryroe appraisal work program is expected to include at least two appraisal wells and an extended production test. The Barryroe structure has been independently verified as containing large volumes of both gas and oil, and the proposed appraisal program is expected to confirm the presence of either a large oil field with a gas cap or a large gas field surrounded by an oil rim.

The appraisal program is being designed to directly address these reservoir uncertainties, and deliver the information required to support development planning ahead of an investment decision.

The independently verified reports of the hydrocarbons recoverable within the Barryroe field concluded that a mid-case of 346 mmboe of 2C resources was present within the Middle and Basal Wealden sands.

In addition to the discovered resources within the Barryroe structure, the Jurassic formation beneath the field remains undrilled. Deepening one of the appraisal wells to assess this additional potential deeper in the Barryroe structure is under consideration.

It is worth noting that Exola received approval to apply for a site survey at a third appraisal location on the Barryroe field. This application was submitted to ensure all preferred appraisal locations are operationally ready.

Eni to relinquish Dunquin South license

Italian oil major Eni has advised Providence that it plans to relinquish its interest in and operatorship of FEL3/04 which contains the Dunquin South prospect.

The Dunquin North prospect which was drilled in July 2013, confirmed the presence of both reservoir and residual hydrocarbon within the structure, however, the reservoir was breached allowing hydrocarbon to migrate out of the structure.

Providence said that the Dunquin South prospect appeared less likely to have been breached, based upon the high-quality 3D seismic available over the prospect and remains an attractive exploration prospect.

Providence is preparing to farm out a material interest in the FEL3/04 license on completion of the Eni relinquishment.

The company also stated that the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in a letter said to JV partners on the FEL 2/14 (Diablo) license – Total, Sosina Exploration, and Capricorn – stating that the license had been accepted for voluntary surrender with an effective date from December 31, 2019.

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