Exxon get licenses in Porcupine Basin offshore Ireland
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) confirmed today its subsidiary, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ireland (Offshore) Limited, along with Providence Resources P.l.c. (Providence) and Sosina Exploration Limited (Sosina), has been awarded two additional licenses in the Porcupine Basin of the Irish Sea. The Irish Government’s Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources announced the results of their 2007 Irish Frontier Licensing Round earlier this week. The licenses are located in water depths exceeding 6,500 feet, and together comprise 13 blocks and an area totalling 760,000 acres. A number of potential leads have been identified across the two licenses including a prospect known as Drombeg.
The new awards bring ExxonMobil’s Porcupine Basin interests to 18 exploration blocks plus an option for an additional 15 blocks, giving the company and its coventurers an expanded exploration position in the basin. ExxonMobil has been awarded operatorship of the two new license areas and will apply its global leadership geoscience and deepwater drilling capability to these Irish operations.
Commenting on the award Tim Cejka, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, said, "We are delighted to add this new Porcupine Basin acreage to ExxonMobil's large and geographically diverse global resource base which includes assets in many key established areas as well as in new and emerging basins. This expanded position will allow us to evaluate a wider range of opportunities in this unexplored basin."
ExxonMobil is finalizing plans to conduct seismic surveys on the new acreage in the Porcupine Basin in the near future.
