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todays' Irish Independent!

The hunt for offshore resources of oil or gas has been underway now for almost 40 years and in that time we have produced just two viable gas fields, the Marathon-owned Kinsale Head field, which lies off the Cork coast, and the Shell operated Corrib field to the west of Mayo.


It is not a very encouraging record and, from an oil industry perspective, it verges on the disastrous. In all, some 170 wells have been drilled at a cost of around 2.5bn. For Irish explorers, however, it seems that hope springs eternal. Despite the numerous fortunes which have been wasted on this fruitless search, there seems to be no shortage of willing participants. Looking at the current crop of hopefuls involved in the Irish offshore, it is obvious that the lure of black gold is as strong as ever, as the poor record of previous exploration work has failed to dissuade those who believe that an oil or gas bounty lies beneath our seas.

It is a risky business. Since the turn of the decade three small exploration companies have led the rejuvenation of drilling in the Irish offshore, one of them paying a very heavy price in the process.

Steve Remp's company, Ramco, made a killing back in 2000 when he sold Ramco's interest in a giant oil field it had discovered in the Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan.

With 150m burning a hole in his denims, Remp cast around for likely projects, settling on what was supposed to be the relatively safe bet of Seven Heads, a small gas field lying close to the Kinsale Head field. Esso had already spent $100m appraising the discovery, before relinquishing it as a lost cause in the late 1980s. To put that figure in perspective, if $100m had been invested in Irish property instead, it would now be worth close on 3bn.

Demand

The hard-headed decision by Esso did not put Ramco off. The US multinational giant had walked away from Seven Heads at a time when gas prices were on the floor and when there was little demand for additional supplies in Ireland. By 2000, this picture had changed dramatically and, as demand had soared, Ramco set about developing the field, drilling fresh appraisal wells and signing contracts to deliver gas from the field. As things turned out, Seven Heads failed to live up to the targets set by Ramco and the company was almost bankrupted by the experience.

The strange thing is that even this bitter experience was not enough to put Ramco off for good and it still has licence interests in the Irish offshore.

Of the other two leading the fresh charge, Providence has the longest pedigree, tracing its ancestry back to the old Atlantic Resources, the company which famously hit oil on block 49/9 back in 1983, saw its share price soar from pennies to 10 and then all the way back when initial results proved illusory.

Providence is hopeful that its own drilling results will not prove as illusory. While its recent Hook Head exploration well, which hit a 75ft oil column, was not flow tested, it still ranks as a significant discovery. Advances in oil field technology mean an operator can gauge more information during drilling today than a couple of decades ago and as things stand, the 10,000 barrels a day which the 49/9 well flowed in 1983, is still a record for the Irish offshore.

Even without testing its well, there is considerable confidence that Hook Head will prove commercial and current estimates put recoverable reserves at about 63 million barrels, a medium-sized find by North Sea standards, but huge in an Irish context.

This is only the thin edge of the Providence wedge. Its real hopes for an El Dorado lie a few hundreds miles away, off the west coast. Here Providence has assembled an impressive package which includes the giant Dunquin prospect. Standing out like a sore thumb on seismic charts, this giant structure could rival the huge Forties' field in the North Sea, a structure that even managed to stand out in the primitive seismic
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http://www.providenceresources.com/html/nigerian_prospect.html

Tony speaking at Oilbarrel on Thursday.

Oil Barrel should be a nice little catch up.

He was good in 2006. I was at that one,

I didn't realise PVR had links to Atlantic Resources. Now that's not something anyone should advertise. I remember it well. ;-0

Well test of recent well?

Hermana were there any announcements last week?

GUTTA,wasnt there but odds on Aje drill with ChevTex by end February.

Good overview of junior oilies!!

For those of you as stupid as me click on the link and then on where it says 'Click here to download'

http://www.mediafire.com/?29c5towhxo4

Thanks for that link Herm :>)

Lex Gamble takes up 2.5m in options to boost his holding to 10m

$250m facility sorts out financing for next 2 years.

Morning hermana, indeed it does.

I think there m ay be a bit more weakness in the sp however, which I am hoping to use to top up at some point.

poo,morning and you could be right.

must be eyeing up a production buy or two.

winner,as of Oilbarrel Presentation 3 weeks ago PVR have tendered for 3 production buy proposals. Could be news on that front very soon.

No.18 on leaders board on LSE yesterday and No.3 on ISE. The comeback has begun and January is only around the corner....

someway to go to get back to years high,if only we had flow tested.
08 looks very positive,plenty of cash to keep us busy and hopefully some good finds to really get the sp moving.

winner,a sizeable acquisition must be on the cards. Lots of dealmakers on PVR Board,Lex Gamble of Smith Barney,Jim Mc Carthy has his own Corporate Finance boutique.Execs Tony O'Reilly and Stephen Carroll are supreme dealmakers too.

Hermana, Could iog be the possible acquistion??