Italian oil company Eni has taken over operatorship of the Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 3/04, offshore Ireland, following a withdrawal by ExxonMobil.

The FEL 3/04 lies in c. 1,500 m water depth in the southern Porcupine Basin and is c. 170 km off the southwest coast of Ireland. The license contains the 2013-drilled Dunquin North carbonate build-up, which hosts a residual oil column, together with the undrilled Dunquin South exploration prospect.

According to a statement by Providence Resources, a partner in the license, ExxonMobil elected to withdraw from the license and the decision was ratified by the Minister. Following the exit, the remaining partners in FEL 3/04 have increased their equity interests in the license through a pro-rata distribution of ExxonMobil’s equity interest with Eni assuming the role of the operator.

Accordingly, the revised equity interests in FEL 3/04 are now Eni Ireland B.V. (36.913%), Repsol Exploracion Irlanda, S.A. (33.557%), Providence Resources (26.846% interest) and Sosina Exploration Limited (2.684%).