THE EXPLORATION COMPANY which earlier this month confirmed Ireland’s first commercially viable oil well off County Cork has said that experiments on an adjacent gas reservoir have also been accessible.

Providence Resources’ tests on the gas well at Barryroe, around 50km south of Cork, have shown that gas can flo from the well at a pressure of 1,700 pounds per square inch – far exceeding previous expectations about its viability.

The well, when accessed, could produce the output equivalent of 2,500 barrels of oil per day.

Oil from the well will not be extracted immediately, however; operations to suspend the gas well are now complete, and the rig involved is to be returned to waters within the UK “imminently”.

Providence chief executive Tony O’Reilly said  it was “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”.

Tests concluded on the oil well at Barryroe last week showed that oil flowed at a rate of 3,500 barrels per day – with previous estimates suggesting that the well could have a total capacity of one billion barrels.

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The Barryroe operations mark the first of six basins intended for exploration by Providence in Irish waters.

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