Austalia's Woodside has been given the official go-ahead to start exploration acitivies in Ireland's offshore Porcupine basin.
Its joint venture partner Petrel Resources said Ireland's minister of state at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources had approved the assignment of an 85% interest and transfer of operatorship in licence options 11-4 and 11-6 to Woodside.
Both are in the Porcupine basin, which is in the Atlantic margin basin, west of Ireland. Petrel says it has late Palaeozoic through Cenozoic sedimentary succession.
The approval clears the way for the JV to apply for a frontier exploration licence, involving a comprehensive work program.
Petrel's managing director David Horgan said: "Woodside's arrival in the Porcupine Basin of the Irish Atlantic is an important development for Irish exploration.
"Woodside, Australia's largest gas exporter, has shown how to find, develop and market hydrocarbons safely, sensitively and profitably."