Providence extends Barryroe loan deadline yet again

Exploration firm is awaiting the receipt of $10m in funding Chinese company Apec

Providence Resources has put back yet again the deadline for the receipt of funds from its Chinese investor.

The exploration firm extended the deadline for the receipt of $10 million (€8.9 million) in funding Chinese company Apec to cover exploration costs for its Barryroe project to July 26th. It is the fifth time the company has extended the deadline.

Apec had originally been due to transfer the funds to Providence’s account – $9 million to cover exploration costs at Barryroe and $1 million to cover Apec’s costs – by June 14th. That deadline was extended to July 5th, and subsequently to July 10th, then July 12th, then July 19th and now to July 26th.

In a note to the Irish Stock Exchange, Providence said it had received further documentation showing the mechanics of the transfer of $10 million to Providence's account.

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“However, due to ongoing banking processing delays, the funds have yet to be credited to Providence’s account,” it said.

“Accordingly, to facilitate this, the Barryroe Partners have agreed to a backstop extension of on or before July 26th, 2019,” it said.

Update

The update to the Irish Stock Exchange means the saga drags on for another week. The deal dates back to March 2018, when Providence announced Apec had agreed to take a 50 per cent stake in Barryroe, and in return would fund half of the cost of a $200 million five-well drilling programme at the project and lend Providence and 10 per cent stakeholder Lansdowne Oil & Gas money to cover their costs.

The Barryroe prospect lies in about 100m water depth in the North Celtic Sea Basin, some 50km off the south coast of Ireland.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times