Irish oil and gas exploration firm Providence Resources has agreed to farm down up to a 65 per cent equity interest in the Nemo heavy oil discovery to Nautical Petroleum.
The discovery is located in the North Celtic Sea Basin offshore Ireland, underlying the Ardmore gas accumulation.
Nautical will take an initial stake of 25 per cent, and will fund and carry out a programme on the development feasibility of the discovery. It will have the option to increase this stake to 65 per cent and drill a well.
At present, Providence holds an operated 72.5 per cent interest in Nemo. Its partners, Atlantic Petroleum and Sosina Exploration, have stakes of 18.3 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively.
If Nautical takes the 65 per cent stake, Providence's stake will drop back to 25.3 per cent, Atlantic Petroleum will have a 6.4 per cent share and Sosina Exploration will take 3.2 per cent.
Providence’s chief executive Tony O’Reilly said Nautical's expertise in heavy oil will help "unlock the potential" of the Nemo discovery and other heavy oil discoveries in the Celtic Sea.
