Oil explorer Providence Resources has booked a drillship to spud a well on its licence off the south-west coast of Ireland.
Dublin-based Providence said it would pay $185,000 a day for the Stena IceMAX drill-ship, which is owned by Stena International.
London-listed Providence said the contract would give it one firm well on FEL 2/14, which is located 220 kilometres off Ireland in the southern Porcupine Basin, and the option of a follow-on well.
Providence, which holds the operatorship and 80% of the licence, said it expected drilling to take place in June 2017.
Its field partner is Sosina Exploration.
The licence contains the Druid and Drombeg prospects.
Providence chief executive Tony O’Reilly said: “We are delighted to have signed this rig contract with Stena. Our previous exploration collaboration project with Schlumberger highlighted the significant hydrocarbon potential of FEL 2/14 which we will now be evaluating using the high specification Stena IceMAX drill-ship. The signing of this rig contract is a major milestone in the project plan to enable the drilling of this high impact exploration well during summer 2017.”