CELTIC SEA TRADING UPDATE - New Celtic Sea Lice...
28 March 2007
Providence Resources Plc ("Providence" or the "Company")
CELTIC SEA TRADING UPDATE
New Celtic Sea Licence, positive OBS survey results
and three new farm-out agreements
Providence, the AIM (London) and IEX (Dublin) listed oil & gas
exploration and production company, today announces that:
* Providence and its partners have been granted a new
exploration licence, Standard Exploration Licence No. 3/07, in
the Celtic Sea Basin over the Blackrock discovery;
* Providence has successfully concluded its OBS Survey over the
Blackrock oil discovery and the analysed data supports the
2004 post-drill interpretation that additional hydrocarbons
may exist between the 2 well control points; and
* Providence has agreed three further farm-out agreements with
Dyas BV, P/F Atlantic Petroleum and Forest Gate Resources Inc.
over Celtic Sea Licence No 3/07.
Tony O'Reilly Jnr., Chief Executive of Providence Resources said:
"These are extremely exciting developments in our Celtic Sea
operations. We are delighted that Atlantic Petroleum, Forest Gate and
Dyas have joined us in this licence, in addition to their recent
farm-in to Licence 2/07. This licence contains the highly prospective
Blackrock oil discovery, where we have just completed a very
encouraging OBS survey, the results of which will now be factored
into our future drilling programmes.
All these developments go to the heart of Providence's strategy of
continuing to develop and progress its portfolio of exploration,
development and production assets. We are hugely encouraged by this
progress we have made in the Celtic Sea and very much look forward to
continuing to develop our operations there."
New Celtic Sea Exploration Licences
The Irish Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources
today announced that he has approved the granting of a new Petroleum
Exploration Licence to Providence and its existing partners.
Standard Exploration Licence 3/07 has been granted over part blocks
48/29, 48/30 & 49/26 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. Licence No. 3/07
is a successor licence to Licencing Option 03/1, which contains the
"Blackrock" oil discovery.
OBS Survey
The OBS (Ocean Bottom Seismic) survey over the Blackrock oil
discovery was carried out on Providence's behalf in November 2006 by
the Ocean Bottom Instrument Consortium (OBIC). The data have since
been processed and interpreted by OBIC. The results support the
post-drill interpretation of the 2004 Blackrock well and indicate the
potential presence of additional hydrocarbons between the existing
well control points. In addition to the OBS data, multi-channel
reflection seismic data were acquired along two transects over the
crest of the Blackrock structure. These lines indicate that the
crestal area is larger than had been previously mapped and also
indicates the possible presence of a gas chimney. These encouraging
data will now be factored into the assessment of future drilling
plans and locations.
New Farm-Out Agreements
A further three farm-out agreements on Providence's Celtic Sea area
interest, held under this new Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 3/07
are subject to approval from The Minister for Communications, Marine
and Natural Resources.
SEL 3/07 which contains the Blackrock oil discovery has recently been
successfully surveyed using OBS (see above) technology.
The first agreement covers a farm-out of a 15% equity interest in
Licence 3/07 to Dyas BV, a Dutch oil and gas company. Dyas BV is a
subsidiary of SHV Holdings NV, a large privately-owned Dutch
investment holding company.
The second agreement covers a farm-out of a 10% equity interest in
Licence 3/07 to Atlantic Petroleum (Ireland) Limited, a subsidiary of
P/F Atlantic Petroleum. P/F Atlantic Petroleum is a Faroe Island
based oil and gas exploration company listed on both ICEX (Icelandic)
& OMX (Copenhagen) stock markets.
The third agreement covers a farm-out of a 15% equity interest in
Licence 3/07 to Forest Gate Resources Inc, a Canadian resource
company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
These farm-outs follow on from the recent announcements where the
above companies farmed into Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 on
similar equity positions.
Subject to Irish governmental approval of these agreements,
Providence's equity stake will reduce to 40% in Licence 3/07, whilst
its most recent farm-in partner, Challenger Minerals (Celtic Sea)
Limited, (a subsidiary of GlobalSantaFe Corporation) will retain a
15% interest and Midmar Energy Limited, will retain a 5% stake.
Contacts:
Providence Resources Plc
Tony O'Reilly Jnr., Chief Executive Tel: + 353 (1) 219 4074
Powerscourt Media
Victoria Brough Tel: + 44 (0)207 236 5622
Murray Consultants
Pauline McAlester Tel: + 353 (1) 498 0300
Notes to Editors:
About Providence
Providence Resources P.l.c. is an independent oil and gas exploration
company listed on AIM (London) and IEX (Dublin) markets. The Company
was founded in 1997, but with roots going back to 1981 when it
predecessor company, Atlantic Resources Plc was formed by a group of
investors led by Sir Anthony O'Reilly.
Providence's active oil and gas portfolio includes interests in
Ireland (offshore), the UK (onshore and offshore), the Gulf of Mexico
(USA) and West Africa (offshore Nigeria). Providence's portfolio is
balanced between production, appraisal and exploration assets, as
well as being diversified geographically.
Recent key corporate announcements include:
* First Farm out Deal Agreed on Spanish Point (announced March
15th, 2007)
* Celtic Sea Farm-out to Forest Gate Resources Inc.(announced
February 23rd, 2007)
* Celtic Sea Farm-out to DYAS and Atlantic Petroleum (announced
Feb 7th, 2007)
* Grant of Standard Exploration Licence 1/07 and 2/07 offshore
Ireland (announced Feb 6th, 2007)
* Award of Licence in UK 24th Seaward Round (announced Feb 2nd,
2007)
* Providence makes oil and gas discovery in Gulf of Mexico
(announced Jan 25th, 2007)
* Award of Goban Spur Licencing Option with ExxonMobil & Sosina
(announced Nov 1st 2006)
* Secures Rig Slot for 2007 (announced Sept. 25th, 2006);
* 20% Farm-out Deal agreed with CMI on Celtic Sea Licences
(announced Sept 5th, 2006);
* Completion of Dunquin Seismic (announced Aug. 8th, 2006);
* Increased production at its Singleton oilfield (announced
March 7th, 2006);
* Dunquin Farm-out to ExxonMobil (announced on Feb 13th, 2006);
and
* ¤50 million Revolving Credit Finance Facility with Macquarie
(announced on Feb 2nd, 2006);
Comprehensive information on Providence and its oil and gas
portfolio, including its 2005 AIM Admission document, 2005 Annual
Report, Interim Report 2005 and recent press releases are all
available from Providence's website at
Celtic Sea Licence No 3/07
Licence No 3/07 refers to part blocks 48/29, 30 & 49/26 in the North
Celtic Sea Basin.
About Dyas BV
Dyas BV is an active investor in oil and gas exploration, development
and production joint ventures, always as a non-operator, with a focus
on onshore the Netherlands and the North Sea. The size of Dyas equity
in joint ventures ranges from 1 - 50%, and is normally between 10 -
20 %. Net 2006 developed oil and gas reserves are some 43 million bbl
oil equivalent, split approximately 50/50 in oil and gas, with a
daily production level of 17,500 bbl oil equivalent. For more
details, please see www.dyas.nl
The company is a 100 % subsidiary of the privately owned SHV Holdings
NV. In 1896 a group of leading Dutch coal importers founded the
Steenkolen Handels Vereeniging NV (Coal Trading Association), which
was a merger between a number of large coal trading companies, some
of which had been active since the 18th century. Today SHV's
activities involve trade and distribution in LPG (SHV Gas), trade in
food and non food consumer articles (Makro), provision of venture
capital (NPM Capital), trade in and production of raw materials
(Recycling) and exploration and production of oil and gas (Dyas). For
further details, please see www.SHV.nl.
About P/F Atlantic Petroleum
P/F Atlantic Petroleum was formed in 1998 by 18 private Faroese
investors to become the Faroes' first independent upstream oil and
gas company. Its corporate shareholders represent most of the major
Faroese business sectors. The Company is a public company listed on
the Iceland Stock Exchange and the OMX Copenhagen Exchange. Atlantic
Petroleum currently participates in exploration on the Faroese
Continental Shelf and exploration, appraisal and development in the
UK sector of the North Sea. Atlantic Petroleum currently participates
in three Faroese licences, and in seven licences in UK waters, four
exploration licences, and three oilfield assets which will be
developed in the near future. For more details, please see
www.petroleum.fo.
About Forest Gate Resources Inc
Forest Gate is a publicly traded mineral exploration company with
diamond properties in Canada. The company's shares trade under the
symbol FGT on the TSX Venture Exchange. Forest Gate continues to own
diamond properties in Saskatchewan and Quebec. However, the company
plans to focus on oil and gas exploration both internationally and
domestically.
---END OF MESSAGE---