A well site survey at Dunquin South in the Irish Atlantic Margin has been approved by the licence consortium, said Providence Resources PLC (LON:PVR).
Dunquin South lies within the Porcupine Basin on licence FEL3/04 and the survey is a pre-requisite for a first exploration well, added Providence.
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Italian group Eni (36.9%) is the operator, with Repsol (33.5%), Providence (26.8%) and Sosina (2.7%).
The decision to explore follows the company's interpretation of the newly acquired 3D seismic data.
As well as Dunquin South, FEL 3/04 also contains the "Dunquin North" carbonate build-up, which hosts a residual oil column.
In a note to clients, analysts at Mirabaud Securities said: “With barrels in the ground worth c.US$4.5/bbl on our numbers, even applying pessimistic chances of success values the asset, risked, at multiples of the current share price (c.US$125m market cap).”
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