ExxonMobil said that the licenses were awarded by the Irish government’s Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, in the 2007 Irish Frontier Licensing Round.
The licenses are located in water depths exceeding 6,500 feet, and together comprise 13 blocks and an area totaling 760,000 acres. A number of potential leads have been identified across the two licenses including a prospect known as Drombeg.
ExxonMobil noted that the new awards bring its Porcupine Basin interests to 18 exploration blocks plus an option for an additional 15 blocks, giving the company and its co-venturers an expanded exploration position in the basin. ExxonMobil has been awarded operatorship of the two new license areas and will apply its global geoscience and deepwater drilling capability to these operations.
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.
