Irish oil and gas explorer Providence Resources said today it has contracted a semi-submersible to drill at least two wells off the Irish coast this summer.
Drilling is expected to begin in August in the North Celtic Sea Basin off Hook Head with the GlobalSantaFe Arctic 2 rig.
Providence – which has a 42.5 per cent stake in this licence – and its partners believe the fields could contain 60 million barrels of recoverable oil.
A second well in which Providence has a similar interest, will focus on the Dunmore discovery which has an estimated 18 million barrels of oil.
An option exists to drill a third well, a decision which will be made based on the success of the first two drilling programmes.
Shares in Providence were unchanged in Dublin today at €0.107 with the market off almost 0.8 per cent.