THERE is more and better quality oil off the coast of Cork than previously thought, explorer Providence Resources said today, adding it was looking for partners in a move that could lead to the country’s first commercial oil production.
Providence hiked its estimate of oil reserves at its flagship Barryroe project off the coast near Cork to as much as 1.6 billion barrels.
The group said it would now work to calculate how much of the oil can be extracted and start talks with potential partners, though any production is likely to be years away.
"Putting out this new oil-in-place figure ... is really the starting point for future discussions," Chief Executive Tony O'Reilly said.
"By the end of the year we'll be actively going out into the market, if the market hasn't already come to us," he said, pointing to [broken link removed]'s $1bn partnership deal a fortnight ago with Rockhopper in the [broken link removed] as an encouraging sign.
Providence said oil in place at the wells stood in a range of 1 to 1.6 billion barrels, against 373 to 893 million in previous estimates provided by third-party specialists.