Irish Oil
 

BBC News - Ireland 'close to oil billions'

If this is as promising it sounds then it's surely good news for the UK offshore market? I wonder what would likely be the timeframe and requirement for helicopters?

Good news for the Irish Economy also. 25% would be a major boost. How would they go about deciding who gets the Contract to extract the Oil?

The explorer (in this case Providence Resources) will field their discovery among the large oil companies and negotiate the best 'deal' (or offer) which in turn will be discussed with the Irish government who will (hopefully) ensure that Eire get the best returns out of this resource.

Understandably the Irish government will try to get as much out of this for Ireland as possible, and so they should. But they don't have much of the needed in-house skills, so they will need to go outside for most of them. It will be a good auction: the potential reserves are big, if you believe their estimates.

It is quite a hostile area to operate, but there is a fair amount of experience from the gas fields.

It would be nice to get a similar result from drilling on the other side of the Celtic Sea, but no luck so far.

Good for them - maybe they can shaft the money men while they're doing it.

Phil