Providence gets extension, ditches part of Irish offshore license

Providence Resources, an Irish-based oil and gas explorer, has received an extension for its Kish Bank Basin license, offshore Dublin.

According to Providence, the Minister of State for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has given his consent to extend the first phase of the Standard Exploration Licence 2/11 by two years until August 17, 2018, and an overall extension of one year to the license term until 17th August 2020.

Providence holds and operates the Licence (100%) which contains the Lower Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Kish Prospect that is situated in 25-meter water depth and is some six kilometers offshore.

The extensions should allow for the planning, consent and drilling of an exploration well on the Kish Prospect within the first phase of the license, Providence explained on Wednesday.

The company has also voluntarily relinquished 55.39% of the area under the license considered to be unproductive.

Tony O’Reilly, Chief Executive of the Company said: “These phase extensions to SEL 2/11 are very welcome as they should allow us to progress the Kish Prospect to drilling given the lead time in consenting for a near shore activity. We will now commence work on our foreshore license submission, which will be a precursor to any further work leading up to the drilling of the Kish Prospect.”

Elsewhere in Ireland, Antrim Energy has today announced it will sell its Irish subsidiary to AzEire, making a step towards the dissolution of the corporation, earlier approved by its shareholders.