By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 13 -- ExxonMobil Corp. took a farmout from Providence Resources PLC, Dublin, to earn an 80% interest in the 700 sq km Dunquin prospect in the Porcupine basin 200 km off southwestern Ireland.
The prospect covers parts of five blocks and will take several years to evaluate, ExxonMobil said. Providence Resources will retain 16% interest, and Sosina Exploration Ltd. keeps 4%.
The supermajor will fund a 2D seismic data shoot, which Providence Resources will operate starting later this year, and may then finance the drilling of as many as two exploratory wells. The three companies also agreed to extend exploration efforts into other unspecified areas of the southern Porcupine basin.
Dunquin covers Blocks 44/18, 44/23, 44/24, 44/29, and 44/30.
Dunquin North, in 1,600 m of water, is a reefal buildup at 16,000 ft TVD subsea similar to Deep Panuke field off Nova Scotia. Seismic data and geochemical analysis of seabed gravity cores indicate the presence of hydrocarbons.
Providence Resources estimates recoverable potential at 5 tcf of gas and 850 million bbl of liquids.
The Dunquin South prospect is a fractured chalk that overlies the reefal buildups. It appears analogous to Fife field in the Central North Sea. It could hold 20 tcf and 3.3 billion bbl recoverable.
Providence Resources and Sosina Exploration were awarded the licenses Nov. 15, 2004, for 16 years.
