Irish exploration company Providence Resources has announced a "significant" oil find off Hook Head on the Wexford coast.

Well-testing operations confirmed Hook Head as a significant oil accumulation with hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs over a large area, according to Tony O'Reilly jnr, chief executive of Providence.

Mr O'Reilly said that following the test drilling, he was still comfortable with the pre-drill estimates of up to 70 million barrels of recoverable oil from the area and said it has the potential to be of similar size to a "good to large-sized field in the North Sea".

"This drilling programme has been a major step forward for Providence and its partners as it has met or exceeded our pre-drill objectives, in terms of hydrocarbon type, areal extent and indicative productivity. We also were able to obtain important well data and fluid samples, which will be vital for our future planning. We will now move quickly to evaluate all of these data in the context of our further drilling plans and potential development scenarios for Hook Head," he said.

The oil find is located 60km offshore in a water depth of around 240ft in Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. The licence interest is jointly held by six companies and is operated by Providence Resources, which has an interest of about 43.5 per cent.

The well was drilled to a total depth of 4,880ft using the semi-submersible drilling rig Petrolia, which Providence and its partners had contracted for a 50-day period. However, mechanical difficulty with the well's cement casing prevented a full flow-test from being carried out before the rig contract expired.

The Hook Head partners have committed to an immediate and detailed evaluation of the well results as well as reservoir data with a view to further appraisal or development drilling early in the 2008 drilling season. Discussions have started regarding the securing of an appropriate rig.

"The presence of oil, particularly of such quality, is very positive news for Providence and reflects well on its other prospects in the vicinity," said Davy analyst James McCullough, adding that Hook Head may be a catalyst for Celtic Sea development. "The development of Hook Head as an oil-producing reservoir would lower the economic development threshold for nearby oil discoveries of a smaller scale," he added.