Providence to spud Druid, Drombeg in June

Providence Resources is set to drill a wildcat targeting the multi-billion bbl potential of both the Druid and Drombeg offshore Ireland this summer.

The Stena IceMAX, from Stena Drillng.

Providence says that the Stena IceMAX drillship is scheduled to start drilling operations in June, subject to the normal regulatory consents.

Druid and Drombeg are in FEL 2/14 in the Southern Porcupine Basin, some 220km off the southwest coast of Ireland, at about 2250m water depth.

“This summer, we are embarking on a very exciting period of operations starting with the drilling of a high impact exploration well targeting the multi-billion bbl potential of both the Druid and Drombeg exploration prospects,” says Tony O’Reilly, Providence CEO. The recently announced licensing of 3D seismic data to be acquired over the Dunquin prospect this summer is another key development which will further enhance our understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of this license, which is now operated by Eni.”

According to Providence, multi-domain analysis with oil services giant Schlumberger confirms that 3D seismic responses from the Druid and Drombeg prospects are consistent with the presence of two large vertically stacked stratigraphically trapped oil accumulations. Total cumulative of un-risked prospective (Pmean) resources are at about 5.095 billion bbl, with Druid holding 3.18 billion bbl, and Drombeg at 1.915 billion bbl. The area also consists of the Diablo oil prospect.

“Off the west coast of Ireland, having made meaningful progress developing our portfolio and demonstrating its economic potential, we have also seen a marked increase in interest from industry in the region,” says O’Reilly. “In this new operating environment, we were able to announce the farm-in by Cairn into our Druid and Drombeg drilling program, which will see Providence’s cost exposure nearly halve.”

O’Reilly says that farm-out negotiations are ongoing with various counterparties on a number of the company’s assets.

“Whilst we are not in a position to confirm any further details at this time, we are working diligently to successfully conclude matters,” says O’Reilly.

In the North Celtic Sea Basin in SEL 1/11, Providence is moving forward at Barryroe with further appraisal and potential development.

“With this in mind, we are commencing various pre-permitting activities in anticipation of future drilling,” says O’Reilly.

At Barryroe, Providence gained a two-year extension to Phase 1 of SEL 1/11 to July 2017 and an extension to the second phase term to July 2019. The company is also progressing on farmout discussions for the prospect.