Page 4 - EurOil Week 48 2020

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

Barryroe partners strike

farm-out deal

Barryroe is Ireland’s largest offshore oil find and could be its last to be developed

IRELAND PROVIDENCE Resources and its fellow Irish “Over the coming months, we will be work-
partner Lansdowne Oil & Gas at the Barryroe oil ing with the SpotOn team to complete the trans-
WHAT: and gas field off Ireland have struck a farm-out action; finalise the project schedule, progress the
Providence and deal with Norway’s SpotOn resources, bringing government approvals and develop the detailed
Lansdowne have reached the project one key step closer to realisation. drilling and facilities work programmes,” Provi-
a deal to farm a 50% Barryroe was found by Providence in 2012 dence CEO Alan Linn said. “I think Ireland and
stake in the Barryroe and represents Ireland’s largest offshore oil dis- the Cork area will benefit economically from the
oilfield to Norway’s covery, estimated to be almost 350mn barrels of field development and subsequent production
SpotOn. oil equivalent (boe) in size. While primarily an for many years to come.”
oil project, Providence has said before that Bar-
WHY: ryroe could also yield significant gas supply. Upstream hostility
The pair need financing to Providence and Lansdowne have agreed to The milestone at Barryroe comes at a difficult
take the project forward. transfer a 50% position in the field to SpotOn, time for Ireland’s upstream sector.
Service providers have leaving them with 40% and 10% interests respec- Irish authorities vowed to phase out offshore
agreed to forgo payment tively. SpotOn is leading a consortium of service oil exploration last year because of climate con-
now for a cut of revenues providers, namely Schlumberger, Aker Solution, cerns. The country’s new government, formed as
later.nt AGR, Maersk Drilling, Keppel FELS and Aibel, a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and
to cover the cost of Barryroe’s early development the Green Party in June, has gone a step further,
WHAT NEXT: programme (EDP). pledging not to issue any new licences for gas
Ireland has banned the These companies will receive cuts of the exploration either. At the same it has also taken
issue of oil licences, project’s revenues in lieu of payment for their a tough stance again new LNG import projects.
meaning Barryroe could services, helping to move development forward Ireland’s oil and gas industry has warned
be the last oilfield in the despite the current volatility in energy and finan- that the government’s antipathy towards fos-
country to be developed. cial markets. sil fuel production only serves to undermine

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