#Oil - The Irish Times reports that the State has offered Irish oil and gas firm Providence Resources a new licensing option off Spanish Point in Co Clare.

The award will allow Providence and its prospecting partners to turn the option for Spanish Point South, which lies in the northern Porcupine Basin some 160km off the Clare coast, into a frontier exploration licence.

Providence - which earlier this week dismissed setbacks over its Barryroe prospect in the Celtic Sea that saw its shares fall in early trading - says its planned 3D seismic survey will be the third such survey in the area, and together with its Spanish Point well "should put us in the leading position" in the hydrocarbon-rich zone.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Porcupine Basin region has long been identified as a bountiful source of oil, with the potential to produce as much as one billion barrels.