The phase 2 awards, which follow the country’s the first phase of awards of the licensing round made in February 2016, brings the total number of licensing options to 28.
Selected firms under the second phase of the licensing round include AzEire, Capricorn, Europa, Faroe, Petrel, Ratio, Scotia, as well as Predator with Theseus as partner and Providence with Sosina as partner.
Irish Minister of State for Natural Resources Seán Kyne said: "The industry response to the 2015 Round has been very positive, with a total of 43 applications for licensing options received by the deadline last September.
"The response to the 2015 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round is by far the largest number of applications received in any licensing round held in the Irish offshore."
The firms selected for the licensing options will undertake work programs to improve the understanding of the potential of petroleum present offshore Ireland.
Petrel Resources director David Horgan said: "These awards are an endorsement of the strong technical work of Petrel that supported our bids.
"Major and mid-cap oil companies have also taken acreage, which validates our long standing belief that the Porcupine Basin is underexplored and has reserve potential."
Ireland offered 14 licensing options in February 2016 to firms including Eni with BP as partner, Europa, ExxonMobil with Statoil as partner, Nexen, Scotia, Statoil with ExxonMobil as partner, and Woodside.
