The operator of the Barryroe oil discovery in the North Celtic Sea, offshore Ireland, has secured a one-year extension to the licence as it hopes to make a breakthrough find.
Providence Resources has received approval from the Irish Minister of Communications to extend the standard exploration licence (SEL) 1/11 until July 2015.
The awards of the SEL and the licensing option (LO) 12/4 which contains the Barryroe oil field and potential field extensions, were first made in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Since then the company has only drilled one appraisal well and has been looking for partners to progress the development. Earlier this year media reports in Ireland claimed Providence was closing in on a £180million farm-out contract for the project, but the potential deal has since fallen through.
The company claims the oilfield, first discovered in mid-1970 but deemed noncommercial at the time, may hold as many as 1.6billion barrels.
Alongside the extension Providence has also changed the operatorship of the licence to its wholly owned subsidiary, Exola Limited.
“We are very pleased to receive these procedural extensions to our Barryroe licensing authorisations,” said Tony O’Reilly, chief executive of Providence.
“The change in operatorship has been done to facilitate ongoing commercial discussions in relation to the next phase of operations on the Barryroe field.”
Providence owns 80% interest in the licence, with the remaining 20% held by partner Lansdowne Oil.
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