Providence plans to divest offshore Ireland

Providence Resources plans to divest 32 percent of its interest in its Spanish Point Area located in the Northern Porcupine Basin offshore Ireland, the exploration and production independent announced on Tuesday.

The company has begun to farm out 32 percent of the 58-percent interest it holds Frontier Exploration Licence 2/04 and 4/08 in the Spanish Point Area. The licence’s operator, Cairn Energy, owns 38 percent.

Located 160 kilometres off the coast of Ireland, the Spanish Point gas condensate field is estimated to contain 337 million barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable resources.

“This divestment process represents an excellent opportunity for a third party to acquire a material, non-operated equity stake in a large Irish offshore project with near-term appraisal drilling, combined with further appraisal and exploration upside,” John O’Sullivan, technical director of Providence, said in a Tuesday statement

This development follows news that three prospects in the Frontier Exploration Licence 3/13 have a net present value of about $7 billion and contain an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.