New data is to be acquired over the Irish deepwater Drombeg prospect by Norway’s Polarcus to further improve imaging of the area.

Project partner Sosina Exploration revealed that Norway’s Polarcus is due to carry out a non-exclusive 3-D shoot that will cover the Drombeg prospect area, which lies in Frontier Exploration Licence 2/14, after it was converted from a Licensing Option, 11/9, by operator Providence Resources.

Drombeg lies in a water depth of 2,500 m (8,200 ft) about 220 km (137 miles) off the west coast of Ireland in the Porcupine Basin.

Work on the survey is due to commence this summer with the aim of gathering up to 3,200 sq km (1,235 sq miles) of data, of which 1,065 sq km (411 sq miles) is to cover the Drombeg prospect area alone. Under an existing agreement Providence and Sosina agreed to licence 2,250 sq km of data from the acquisition program covering both Drombeg and adjacent open acreage, for a fixed sum. Providence operates FEL 2/14 with 80%, with Sosina holding 20%.

Sosina stated: “Providence and Sosina expect that these new high resolution 3-D data over our Drombeg prospect will confirm the potential, which has been identified within the Lower Cretaceous section and will allow for the commencement of well planning.”

Data should also allow evaluation of potential in stacked Jurassic and Paleocene levels, Sosina indicates, “... where significant addition exploration prospectivity has been identified.