Shares in Providence Resources shed some of their gains this afternoon, after an earlier update on its Cork prospect sent stock soaring on the Dublin market.

The oil and gas explorations company’s shares rose as high as €8.89 this morning after it said it believed the Barryroe prospect could yield about 280 million barrels in oil.

In a statement this morning, Providence said modelling of the main Basal Wealden oil bearing reservoir interval showed recovery rates of 17 per cent to 43 per cent.

"It's a very big field," said chief executive Tony O'Reilly. "Hopefully, this will cause companies to look at Barryroe, because we can't do this alone and we will be looking for companies to co-venture with us."

Technical director John O’Sullivan said the studies had identified significant productive potential.

“These results will now be factored into our ongoing field pre-development work where we have kicked off a key engineering study to identify and select the optimum development concept,” he said.

Davy analyst Job Langbroek said it was still early in the process.

“The study publically confirms that Barryroe offers recovery rates that make for significant economic value and development potential. The announcement is in part a watershed and moves the thinking away from the relatively small scale development options being considered in earlier reports,” he wrote. “In fact, the type of development is not so much the issue; rather, it is that an economic quantity of oil exits in a secure north European context, close to markets and in relatively shallow water.”

Additional reporting: Bloomberg