Providence Resources begins drilling operations in Ireland's southern Porcupine basin

DUBLIN and LONDON -- Providence Resources, the Irish based exploration company, has provided an operational update regarding Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 2/14 located in the southern Porcupine basin.  FEL 2/14 is operated by Providence Resources plc (56%) on behalf of its partners Capricorn Ireland Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC, 30%) and Sosina Exploration Limited (14%), collectively referred to as the “JV partners”. The licence contains the Paleocene “Druid”, Lower Cretaceous “Drombeg” and pre-Cretaceous “Diablo” prospects.

The JV Partners have contracted the Stena IceMAX deepwater drillship to drill the 53/6-A well in FEL 2/14 to evaluate the vertically stacked Paleocene Druid and Lower Cretaceous Drombeg exploration prospects.  Following consent from the Minister of Communications, Climate Action and Environment on July 11, 2017, Providence can confirm that drilling operations on the 53/6-A well program have commenced.

A further operational update will be provided once the Paleocene Druid prospect has been penetrated or as appropriate.  Drilling is then planned to continue to the underlying Lower Cretaceous Drombeg prospect.