Irish exploration group Providence Resources has announced a deal to advance its drilling programme off the Irish coast in 2007.
The company said it had signed a contract with Island Oil & Gas for the provision of the semi-submersible drilling unit "Petrolia" in 2007.
A further slot may also become available - depending on the duration of the respective drilling programmes.
Separately, Providence and Island have agreed that they will work together to develop a common strategy report for the joint development of the companies' Celtic Sea oil assets based on a shared floating production facility.
