Providence Resources

Providence Resources Plc is Irish based oil and gas exploration and production company listed on AIM (London) and ESM (Dublin). Providence’s portfolio includes extensive licence interests in Ireland (offshore) and in the U.K. (onshore and offshore). The company also has operating interests in the U.S.A. (offshore) and a development project in West Africa (offshore Nigeria).

Providence's strategy has been to assemble a portfolio comprising producing assets with a portfolio of offshore and onshore prospects, combining existing discoveries with large new prospects to improve overall economics and reduce risk profile. Providence's objective is to acquire strategic prospects, affiliate with leading industry players and realise value to generate sustainable incremental wealth for the company and its shareholders. A key element in support of this strategy is the ability to avail of advances in technology, pricing and infrastructure.

In 2011, Providence announced a multi-year, multi-well offshore drilling campaign to cover the six basins in which the Company has licence interests offshore Ireland. Providence and partners plan to invest upwards of $500 million in the drilling of 10 exploration and development wells, with first drilling planned to commence later in 2011. This programme represents the lest drilling campaign ever carried out offshore Ireland.

Tony O'Reilly Jr., chief executive officer of Providence Resources Plc, talks about company's oil and natural-gas exploration off the Irish coast and Ireland's corporate tax policy. O'Reilly speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness."

To view an interactive map of Providence Resources current operations please click here

Ireland Operations

Standard Exploration Licence 2/07

HOOK HEAD (72.5%, Operator)
The Hook Head oil discovery lies approximately 60 km off the south coast of Ireland and is situated in c. 70m water depth. The Hook Head structure is a large mid-basinal anticline where the four wells drilled to date have all successfully encountered hydrocarbon-bearing sands. The Hook Head discovery was originally made in 1971 by Marathon Oil and subsequently appraised in 1975 with the 50/11-2 well. In 2007, Providence operated the 50/11-3 well which encountered a significant oil column in Lower Cretaceous sands in the eastern part of the structure which are equivalent in age to those seen in previous wells. Unfortunately, operational problems precluded a full well test to be executed.

In 2008, Providence drilled the 50/11-4 appraisal well on the NW flank of the structure. Though the well failed to discover oil in the primary objective, it did encounter gas bearing reservoir quality sands in an overlying secondary objective. The most recent Providence analysis suggests that the main central panel of the Hook Head structure contains c. 120 MMBO STOIIP with further potential remaining on the north and south panels. Recently partners Providence and Atlantic granted an option to Sosina over a 50% equity interest in the discovery in return for drilling an appraisal well in 2011.

Other partners in the project include, Atlantic Petroleum and Sosina Exploration.

DUNMORE (72.5%, Operator)
The Dunmore discovery is located approximately 20 km north of the Hook Head discovery. The discovery well, 50/6-1, was drilled by the then Operator, Gulf Oil in 1985/86, and flowed at a rate of approximately 2,100 BOPD of high quality (44º API) oil. During 2008, Providence drilled the 50/6-4 appraisal well on the Dunmore structure and whilst the well failed to prove the lateral extent of the hydrocarbon bearing Upper Jurassic sands, a new oil bearing carbonate interval was intersected. Studies in relation to this new oil bearing zone are presently ongoing.

Other partners in the project include, Atlantic Petroleum and Sosina Exploration.

HELVICK (72.5%, Operator)
The Helvick oil field is located in block 49/9, some 36 kilometres off the south coast of Ireland. The Helvick discovery well, 49/9-2, was drilled in 1983 and flowed at a cumulative rate of c. 9,900 BOPD and 7.5 MMSCFGD. Three appraisal wells were drilled in the late 1980s to delineate the field. In 2000, Providence drilled the 49/9-6Z well which was tested at rates of c. 5,200 BOPD. Further detailed analysis indicated that the Helvick reservoir is compartmentalised and would require further appraisal, particularly in the surrounding area. Providence concluded that development of Helvick on a stand-alone basis could not be justified given market conditions at that time.

Recent modern analysis of well test data suggests that wells could produce oil at significant rates under primary depletion. This, together with improved commodity prices, indicates that Helvick could provide the potential for a small field development and in 2010 the partners agreed for Unmanned Production Buoy Limited to carry out a study to assess the use of their technology in the potential development of the field.

Other partners in the project include, Atlantic Petroleum and Sosina Exploration.

ARDMORE/NEMO (72.5%, Operator)
The Ardmore gas field lies approximately 48 km north-east of the Kinsale Head gas field.  The discovery well, 49/14-1, was drilled in 1975 by the then Operator, Marathon, and flowed at an aggregate rate of circa 8 MMSCFGD.  In 2006, Providence completed a high-resolution pseudo-3D seismic survey over the field. A recent assessment of these data, together with a re-evaluation of the original well test data, indicates a recoverable reserve potential of c. 30 BSCF within the uppermost reservoir interval. In addition, deeper reservoir intervals termed Nemo are thought to contain up to 230 MMBO of heavy 16o API oil. In 2010, the partners agreed to farm out up to a 65% equity interest in the block to Nautical Petroleum, a UK heavy oil specialist, should they elect to drill an appraisal well by end of 2011.

Other partners in the project include, Nautical Petroleum, Atlantic Petroleum and Sosina Exploration.

Map above shows Providence Resources Operations in UK and Ireland

UK Onshore

PL 240

SINGLETON (99.125%, Operator)

The Singleton field is located in West Sussex, onshore UK. The field was brought on stream in 1989 with peak production of 1,000 BOPD being achieved in 1996 from 4 wells. Current production is approximately 700 BOEPD from 7 wells. The successful drilling of the X10 well in 2009, resulted in an approximate 50% production increase for the field. Estimates of STOIIP at Singleton are c. 107 MMSTB of which c. 3.6 MMBO have been produced to date, representing a recovery factor of c. 3.3%. Numerous surface and subsurface studies are ongoing with the objective of raising production from Singleton to over 1,000 BOEPD. These activities include but are not limited to, facilities de-bottlenecking, gas-to-wire, acid fracturing and the drilling of new production wells on the field commencing with the 2010 two well drilling campaign which is expected to add 350 BOEPD additional production.

In the picture above -the Wells at Singleton

USA Operations

High Island Block A-268 (5%, Non-Operated)

High Island A-268 is located in the US Gulf of Mexico. The block lies in 170 feet of water, approximately 118 km from the Texas shoreline. The discovery well was drilled in early 2007.

A second well was successfully drilled during August 2007, and the field was brought into production Q2 2007.

Providence holds a 5% non-operated working interest in this field. Recompletes are being planned fro 2011 in both the A1 and A2 wells, which will increase production from this field.

Africa Operations

OML 113 (5%, Non-Operated)

Providence holds a 5% net revenue interest in Oil Mining Lease 113 (“OML 113”) offshore Nigeria which contains the Aje Field.  The partnership also includes Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Limited (Operator), Chevron (Technical Advisor), Vitol Exploration and Panoro Energy Limited.

OML 113 lies on the extreme western part of offshore Nigeria adjacent to the border of offshore Benin. The Benin Embayment lies along the prolific West African Transform Margin, a petroleum fairway which contains fields including the Tullow operated Jubilee Field offshore Ghana. Four wells have been drilled to date on the Aje Field, each of which were hydrocarbon-bearing, with three of the wells having logged significant net hydrocarbon-bearing sections. Geophysical data coverage over OML 113 includes 915 kilometres of 2D seismic, 700 square kilometres of 3D seismic, and an electromagnetic survey.

The OML113 partners drilled the successful AJE-4 appraisal/exploration well in 2008 and subsequent analysis led the partners to deem the discovery to be commercially viable. Subsequently, the partners instructed Chevron, the project Technical Advisor, to prepare a field plan of development and this work is currently ongoing.

Dr Brian Hillery, B. Comm., MBA, Ph.D- Chairman

Served as Chairman on the Providence Board since the incorporation of the Company. He is Non-executive Chairman of Independent News & Media PLC and is a Director of the Central Bank of Ireland. A former Professor at the Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin, he has also served as a member of the Irish Parliament as a TD and Senator (1977-1994). He was an Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) London (1994-1997) and was Non-executive Chairman of UniCredit Bank (Ireland) Plc.
 
Tony O'Reilly, BA- Chief Executive

Tony O'Reilly is a graduate of Brown University in Rhode Island. He is Chief Executive of Providence Resources P.l.c. having served on the Board since incorporation. He has previously worked in corporate finance at Coopers and Lybrand in New York, advising natural resource companies. He served as Chairman of Arcon International Resources P.l.c. (having been Chief Executive from 1996 to 2000) until April 2005 when Arcon merged with Lundin Mining Corporation. He joined Wedgwood in 2001 becoming Chief Executive (2002 to 2005) following which he became Chief Executive of Providence. He is a non executive director of Fitzwilton Limited and Zenergy Power Plc.

Simon Brett - Chief Financial Officer

Simon previously held the position of Group Financial Controller of Providence and has worked at Providence since 2008. Prior to joining Providence, Simon held senior finance positions with Damovo Ireland Limited and Coca Cola Bottlers Ireland Limited. Simon has a BA in Business Studies from the Liverpool John Moores University and he is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants, having qualified in 1996. Between 1996 and 2003, Simon worked in the UK for a number of multinational companies including Johnson Wax, Sega Europe Limited and US Can Corporation.

 
John O’Sullivan, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.T.M.- Technical Director

John O’Sullivan is a geology graduate of University College, Cork and holds a Masters in Applied Geophysics from the National University of Ireland, Galway. He also holds a Masters in Technology Management from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College, Dublin and is presently completing a dissertation leading to a Ph.D in Geology at Trinity College, Dublin. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and a member of both the Energy Institute and the Petroleum exploration Society of Great Britain. He has 19 years' experience in the oil and gas exploration and production industry with both Mobil and Marathon and is a qualified person as defined in the guidance note for Mining Oil & Gas Companies, March 2006 of the London Stock Exchange.
 
Lex Gamble, BA, MA- Non Executive Director

Lex Gamble was appointed as a non-executive director of the Company in August, 2005. Mr. Gamble holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Washington, and a Masters Degree from Harvard Business School. Mr. Gamble has been an investment banker for over 35 years and has provided strategic advice to more than 200 U.S. and international companies, including several in the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500. During his time as Managing Director with Smith Barney Group Inc, Morgan Grenfell Plc and Kidder Peabody & Co Inc, he advised corporate clients on capital raisings totaling in excess of US$40 billion. Mr. Gamble is a Director of the Harris Bank and Trust Company (Chicago), Crosswater Financial Corporation (Minneapolis), Ashford Castle (Ireland), the University of Washington Foundation, and the University of Washington School of Business (Seattle) and was a Founding Principal of Lockwood Financial Group a leading provider of consulting and wealth management services to high net worth individuals.
 
James S.D. McCarthy- Non-executive Director

Appointed as a Non-executive Director of the Company in May 2005. Mr McCarthy holds a Bachelor Degree in Civil Law, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and is a qualified solicitor. He is managing Director of Corporate Finance Ireland Limited and a Director of Windsor Motors Limited and Rockall Technologies Limited and a number of other companies. Mr McCarthy is a former Director of ARCON International Resources plc.
 
Dr Philip Nolan- Non-executive Director

Appointed as a Non-executive Director of the Company in May 2004. Dr Nolan was CEO of eircom Plc from 2002 to 2006. He is currently Chairman of Infinis Ltd and Sepura Ltd, two privately owned companies. He is also a Nonexecutive Director of De La Rue Plc and of the Ulster Bank Group. He is Chairman of the Irish Management Institute and is a member of the Board of the Ireland Fund and The Queens University Foundation. Dr Nolan, graduated from Queen’s University in Belfast with a BSc and a Ph.D in geology and has an MBA from the London Business School.
 
Michael Graham- Company Secretary

Michael Graham has been Secretary of the Company from its inception. He has over twenty seven years experience in the natural resources sector having commenced his professional career with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a Chartered Secretary

Significant Shareholders: at 16th February 2010