Providence Resources said it has agreed farm-out deals on its Celtic Sea area interests, held under Standard Exploration Licence 2/07, off the south coast of Ireland.
The AIM and IEX listed oil & gas exploration and production company said the first agreement covers a farm-out of 15 per cent of Celtic Sea Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 to Dyas BV, a Dutch oil and gas company. Dyas is a subsidiary of SHV Holdings NV, a large privately-owned Dutch investment holding company.
Providence has also agreed to farm out 10 per cent of Celtic Sea Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 to Atlantic Petroleum (Ireland) Ltd, a subsidiary of Atlantic Petroleum.
Atlantic Petroleum is a Faroe Island based oil and gas exploration company, listed on both ICEX (Icelandic) & OMX (Copenhagen) stock markets.
If the farm-outs get Irish government approval Providence's stake will reduce to 55 per cent in Licence 2/07, whilst its most recent farm-in partner, Challenger Minerals (Celtic Sea) Ltd, a subsidiary of GlobalSantaFe Corporation, will retain a 15 per cent stake and Midmar Energy Limited, will retain a 5 per cent stake.
Providence CEO Tony O'Reilly Jnr said that after the farm-out agreements the company can now focus on finalising drilling plans, with drilling expected to commence this summer.
More details on the 2007 drilling programme will be announced within the next few months, he said.