Providence Resources' (PVR) high-risk Dunquin exploration well, drilled in the South Porcupine basin offshore Ireland, is being plugged and abandoned after failing to find substantial amounts of hydrocarbons. Providence and operator ExxonMobil can be encouraged by the well finding traces of oil and a high-quality reservoir system - bolstering other nearby exploration prospects - but ultimately the main target reservoir at Dunquin was found to be water-bearing because the top seal layer did not form a good enough trap.
Investors will now have to wait until the second quarter of 2014 for Providence to participate in another high-impact well. That will be Spanish Point, being drilled by Cairn Energy (CNE). The well had originally been scheduled to spud in the latter half of this year, but Cairn's late arrival via a farm-out deal pushed back drilling. A date for another well in Ireland's Kish basin has also yet to be confirmed.
Instead, the next big news event will likely come from Barryroe, the giant Irish oil field for which Providence is currently looking for farm-in partners. The company has not given fresh guidance as to when a potential deal, if any, will be struck.
