Irish exploration company Providence Resources has once again extended the deadline for the receipt of $10 million (€8.9 million) in funding to cover exploration costs for its Barryroe project, setting a new deadline of July 19th.
Chinese company APEC had been due to transfer $10 million to Providence’s account – $9 million to cover exploration costs at Barryroe and $1 million to cover APEC’s costs – by June 14th. That deadline was extended to July 5th, and subsequently to July 10th and then July 12th, with APEC citing issues with “internal transaction processing with their investors”.
Providence last week said it had set a final deadline of the close of business on July 19th and did not anticipate extending it further without “adequate evidence that the transfer will be processed as a matter of urgency”.
In a note to the stock market on Monday, Providence said it had received a letter from the legal representatives of APEC's funder advising that it had arranged the transfer from HSBC to Providence's account on July 9th, and it was expected to be completed shortly pending compliance checks by the bank. That led to the new deal to further extend the deadline.
Drilling
The update to the Irish Stock Exchange means the saga drags on for another week. The deal dates back to March 2018, when Providence announced APEC had agreed to take a 50 per cent stake in Barryroe, and in return would fund half of the cost of a $200 million five-well drilling programme at the project and lend Providence and 10 per cent stakeholder Lansdowne Oil & Gas money to cover their costs.
The Barryroe prospect lies in about 100m water depth in the North Celtic Sea Basin, some 50km off the south coast of Ireland.
The delays have hit Providence’s share price in recent days, with the stock closing down more than 10 per cent on Friday.
