PROVIDENCE Resources has completed a technical assessment of the heavy oil resource that appears to underlie the Ardmore gas field in block SEL2/07 in the northern Celtic Sea Basin offshore Ireland.
The company says that in-place reserves may be about 230million barrels.
Ardmore, situated some 60km off the south coast of Ireland in 90m (295ft) of water and managed by the company’s special-purpose vehicle, Exola Limited, was originally discovered by Marathon Oil in 1974 and comprises a gas cap with an underlying heavy oil (16 degrees API) accumulation.
Recent work on the Lower Cretaceous-aged field revealed the presence of potentially significant heavy oil resources at the nearby Baltimore discovery, which prompted a re-evaluation of the possible resource potential within the Ardmore oil leg.
This work, which is based on a recently acquired 2006 3D seismic survey, has now been completed and suggests an in-place resource potential of up to 230million barrels of oil.
Tony O’Reilly, Providence’s CEO, said in a statement: “The positive results from our recent work on the Baltimore heavy oil discovery lead us to re-evaluate Ardmore in the context of its heavy oil potential. While further work needs to be carried out, we are suitably encouraged by this review and, as with our recently announced JV on Baltimore, we have agreed with the Ardmore partners to seek a heavy oil specialist to assess this discovery for potential future development.”
Providence operates block SEL2/07 and the Ardmore field, with 72.5% interest, in partnership with Faroese company Atlantic Petroleum, holding 18.3%, and Sosina Exploration, with the remaining 9.2%.