• Wednesday, 16 May, 2012

Irish hopes rising at Blackrock play

 29 April 2004 23:01 GMT

IRISH junior Providence Resources plans to spud a well on its Blackrock prospect off southern Ireland this summer.
Operations manager Tony Odone said a wildcat could begin drilling on block 49/26 as early as the second half of July. Site surveys are due to kick-off this month and, if the well is successful, a 3D shoot may then take place.

Once the Blackrock well is completed, Odone said Providence may also drill an exploration probe on its Hook Head prospect in block 50/11.

However, the Hook Head work, said the Dublin-based executive, depends on the status of "farm-out discussions" for that particular block.

In late March, Providence and Midmar Energy, its partner in Blackrock, signed a heads of agreement with Global Santa Fe subsidiary Challenger Minerals and US independent Palace Exploration which would give the newcomers the right to earn a 50% stake in licensing option 03/1 containing block 49/26 among others in return for part-funding the Blackrock probe and 100% funding a second optional well.

If the deals go though, Providence and Midmar will retain 37.5% and 12.5% stakes respectively in 03/1 which also includes part-blocks 48/29, 48/30, 49/22, 49/23, 49/27, 49/28, 57/4, 57/5, 58/1 and 58/2.

The licensing option expires at the end of this year. Blackrock lies in 100 metres of water in the vicinity of the producing Kinsale Head and Seven Heads gas fields.

Data from Providence suggests the well will be drilled to a depth of 1980 metres targeting a structure which could potentially hold 235 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Hook Head, which is covered by the 03/8 licensing option, lies close to the Providence- and Midmar-controlled Ardmore gas discovery with the operator suggesting a potential recoverable resource of 60 million barrels of oil and 15 billion cubic feet of gas.

Another licensing option held by Providence and Midmar is 03/7 which includes the Dionysus prospect in block 42/21.

Located 20 kilometres west of Marathon's 150 Bcf-350 Bcf Dragon gas discovery in UK block 103/1, this structure is also expected to be gas-bearing.

Both the 03/8 and 03/7 licensing options expire in 2006.

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