Commencement of drilling at Barryroe

Commencement of drilling at Barryroe

Embargo 7:00am
21st November, 2011

CELTIC SEA DRILLING UPDATE

COMMENCEMENT OF DRILLING AT BARRYROE

Providence Resources P.l.c., ('Providence') the London (AIM) and Dublin (ESM) listed oil and gas exploration and production company, today announces that it has commenced drilling at Barryroe, located in Standard Exploration Licence 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore southern Ireland. Providence holds a 50% interest in the Licence and operates on behalf of its partners San Leon Energy Plc (30%) and Lansdowne Oil & Gas Plc (20%).

Using the GSF Arctic III semi-submersible rig, drilling of the Barryroe appraisal well (48/24-J well) commenced on schedule at 9:45am on Sunday, November 20th. The drilling and testing programme is scheduled to take approximately 60 days.

The 48/24-J well location and programme were finalised using recently processed 3D seismic volume. The well will offset and primarily appraise the previous Marathon Oil operated 48/24-3 (1990) well, which tested c. 45o API light sweet oil at c. 1,600 BOPD from Base Cretaceous sands. Using the latest technology, the 48/24-J well is planned to acquire a modern set of wire-line logs, together with an orientated conventional core through the primary objective. These new data will be important in understanding the reservoir architecture, inverting the 3D seismic volume and defining the resource base for this reservoir interval. In addition, it is planned to test the well using vacuum insulated tubing (VIT), which has proven to be key when dealing with high pour point crudes such as those seen in the original well. Data in overlying secondary objectives will also be acquired as these have tested at rates of c. 1,500 BOPD from two previous wells on the Barryroe structure. The objective will be to demonstrate commercial flow rates of 1,800 BOPD or better from this vertical well.

Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Providence said:

"We are extremely pleased to announce the commencement of drilling operations at Barryroe. This is a very exciting time for Providence and its shareholders and we look forward to updating the market on the progress from this well."

CONTACTS:

Providence Resources Plc                                         Tel: +353 (0)1 219 4074
Tony O'Reilly

Powerscourt                                                         Tel: +44 (0)207 250 1446
Rob Greening/Lisa Kavanagh

Murray Consultants                                                 Tel: +353 (0)1 498 0300
Pauline McAlester

Cenkos Securities Plc                                                 Tel: +44 (0)207 397 8900
Adrian Hargrave/Nick Wells

J&E Davy                                                         Tel: + 353 (0)1 679 6363
Eugenee Mulhern/Stephen Barry

ABOUT PROVIDENCE
Providence Resources Plc is an Irish based oil and gas exploration company listed on the AIM market in London and on Dublin's ESM market. Providence's portfolio of production, appraisal and exploration assets includes licence interests in Ireland (offshore) and the United Kingdom (onshore). In 2011, Providence announced plans to invest with its partners upwards of $500 million in the drilling of a number of exploration and development wells in 6 different basins offshore Ireland. This multi-year programme represents the largest drilling campaign ever carried out offshore Ireland. www.providenceresources.com.

ABOUT BARRYROE
The Barryroe licence lies directly below the Seven Heads Gas Field and has been successfully tested at flow rates of between 1,300 and 1,600 BOPD, from three exploration and appraisal wells. The reservoir sands are of Cretaceous Middle and Lower Wealden age located between c. 4,500' TVDSS and 7,550' TVDSS. The oil is light (30 to 42 degrees API) and contains relatively high wax content ranging from 12 to 22 per cent, which may require treatment at surface. Providence holds a 50% interest in the licence and operates on behalf of its partners San Leon Energy Plc (30%) and Lansdowne Oil and Gas Plc (20%).A third party audit carried out by RPS Energy for Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc indicated P50 and P10 STOIIP estimates for Barryroe of 373 MMBO and 893 MMBO, respectively. The corresponding 2C and 3C Barryroe technically recoverable contingent resources are 59 MMBO and 144 MMBO, respectively. Providence entered into a MOA with Shell Trading and Marketing to agree an oil off-take agreement for future Barryroe oil production.

ANNOUNCEMENT
This announcement has been reviewed by John O'Sullivan, Technical Director, Providence Resources P.l.c. John holds a B.Sc. in Geology from University College Cork, Ireland, an M.Sc. in Applied Geophysics from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a M.Sc.in Technology Management from The Smurfit School of Business at University College Dublin. John is presently working part-time on a PhD dissertation at Trinity College, Dublin. John has worked in the offshore business for 20 years and is a fellow of the Geological Society of London and member of The Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain. Definitions in this press release are consistent with SPE guidelines.

SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resource Management System 2007 has been used in preparing this announcement



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Source: Providence Resources plc via Thomson Reuters ONE
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