Exploration company Providence Resources has said that its Barryroe well offshore Cork has produced more gas than had been expected.
“We are very pleased to confirm that the gas zone was far more productive than we had anticipated,” CEO Tony O’Reilly said.
“The well lies just 3km from installed pipeline infrastructure which may provide a future route to monetize any surplus Barryroe gas production.
“It is particularly pleasing to note that both the oil and gas zones have far exceeded our pre-drill expectations, both in terms of reservoir development and more importantly, oil and gas flow rates.”
The company had last week announced that oil flows from the Barryroe basin, 50km from Cork, were almost double the 1,800 barrels of oil per day (bopd) barrier set by the firm as being commercial.
Today it said that final test results from the site showed a gas bearing zone produced initial flows of 1,350 bopd, well ahead of expectations.
The test basin covers 300 sq km, equivalent to a medium to large North Sea oil field.
The successful appraisal well at Barryroe marks a successful start to Providence’s $500m (€383m) drilling programme at six different Irish basins.
Providence Resources and Lansdowne Oil and Gas, which has a 20% stake of the exploration licence, are seeking partners for the drilling and development phases at Ballyroe.
This is the fifth time oil has been hit during explorations of the Barryroe licensing block, but the other wells fell below the commercialisation target when examined in the 1970s and 1990.