Providence Resources P.l.c. - Celtic Sea Operat...

For Immediate Release
August 26th 2008


                    CELTIC SEA OPERATIONAL UPDATE

*         COMPLETION OF HOOK HEAD DRILLING OPERATIONS
o   Hydrocarbons logged in north-west flank
o   Well 50-11/4 to be plugged and abandoned

*         DUNMORE DRILLING OPERATIONS TO START
o   Drilling expected to commence within 10 days


Providence, the AIM (London) and IEX (Dublin) listed oil & gas
exploration and production company, today announces that it has
concluded the appraisal drilling operation on the north-west flank of
its Hook Head oil discovery in Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 in
the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore southern Ireland. The Company
is now preparing to commence drilling operations on its nearby
Dunmore oil discovery.

The Hook Head appraisal well (50/11-4) was drilled on the north-west
flank of the Hook Head structure using the Transocean
semi-submersible GSF Arctic II rig and was spudded on August 5th,
2008. The well was successfully drilled to a total depth (TD) of
4,875 feet true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS). All geological
horizons in the Wealden sand package were within the pre-drill depth
prognosis and oil and gas shows were encountered whilst drilling. The
well encountered 30 feet of net hydrocarbon bearing Lower Cretaceous
sands above the primary objective, which is of an equivalent age to
those logged as being hydrocarbon bearing in the 50/11-3 well,
located c. 2.3 km to the south-east. Reservoir quality across these
intervals was excellent with average porosities of c. 27%. This well
constitutes the fourth well to be drilled on the Hook Head structure,
all of which have logged hydrocarbons.

However, given that the net hydrocarbon bearing intervals in the
50/11-4 well were substantially less than that which was expected in
the pre-drill estimates, the Company and its partners took the
decision to plug and abandon the 50/11-4 well. The initial well
results suggest that the majority of the Hook Head resource lies in
the central part of the structure already demonstrated by the 50/11-1
and 50/11-3 wells, however, the north-west flank could potentially
provide additional incremental resources for any future development
in the area. The 50/11-4 well results will now be integrated into the
Hook Head full field model before finalising forward plans for the
accumulation.

In the meantime, and as per programme, the Company has now started
the process to move off Hook Head and mobilise the Arctic II drilling
unit to the Dunmore oil appraisal well (50/6-D), located
approximately 20 kilometres to the north of Hook Head. Drilling on
Dunmore is expected to commence within 10 days.
Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Providence said:

"Whilst we were initially encouraged by the presence of hydrocarbons
in some excellent quality sands in the upper sections, the less than
expected net pay of 30 ft mitigated against the execution of what
would have been a costly testing programme. Providence and its
partners will now review the well data from this north-west panel, in
combination with the previous wells, in order to chart an overall
forward programme for Hook Head.

Looking ahead, we now turn our immediate attention to the appraisal
drilling programme of the
Dunmore oil discovery, which we expect to spud within the next 10
days. This appraisal well is designed to prove additional volumes and
to test the Jurassic reservoirs seen in the original discovery well."



Contacts:

Providence Resources Plc              Tel: [phone]
Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive

Powerscourt                                      Tel: [phone]
1446
Rory Godson/Elizabeth Rous

Murray Consultants                          Tel: [phone]
Pauline McAlester
Notes to Editors

About Providence

Providence Resources Plc is an independent oil and gas exploration
company listed on the AIM market in London and
on Dublin's IEX market. The Company was founded in 1997, but with
roots going back to 1981 when its predecessor
company, Atlantic Resources Plc was formed by a group of investors
led by Sir Anthony O'Reilly.

Providence's active oil and gas portfolio includes interests in
Ireland (offshore), the United Kingdom (onshore and
offshore), the United States (onshore and offshore) and West Africa
(offshore Nigeria). Providence's portfolio is balanced between
production, appraisal and exploration assets, as well as being
diversified geographically. Comprehensive information on Providence
and its oil and gas portfolio, including all press releases, annual
reports and interim reports are available from Providence's website
at www.providenceresources.com.

Celtic Sea Standard Exploration Licence 2/07

Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 refers to part blocks 49/22, 49/23,
48/29, 48/30, 49/26, 49/27, 49/28, 49/8, 49/9, 49/13, 49/14, 50/6,
50/7 & 50/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore southern
Ireland. The current Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 partners and
their respective percentages are Providence Resources Plc (Operator)
48.6556%, Challenger Minerals (Celtic Sea) Limited 24.5%,  Forest
Gate Resources Inc. 8.3889%, Atlantic Petroleum (Ireland) Limited
12.3037% and Sosina Exploration Limited 6.1519%.

About Dunmore

The Dunmore oil discovery is located in c. 70 metre water depth being
c. 40 km offshore Wexford and is situated in
Standard Exploration Licence 2/07 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. The
50/6-1 discovery well was drilled in 1986 by Gulf
Oil (now part of Chevron), and tested a c. 60' gross interval at a
rate of c. 2,100 BOPD from sands of Upper Jurassic
age at a depth of c. 5,000' TVDSS. The oil is a light, sweet, 44o API
crude and is interpreted to be trapped in a
downthrown terrace structure. Mapping of reprocessed 2D seismic data
now suggest that this structure rises to the
east of the 50/6-1 well location and that an appraisal well would be
optimally drilled c. 500' up-dip from the 50/6-1 well.
On the assumption that a common contact exists between the 50/6-1
discovery well and this crestal area, a number of
sands which were water bearing in the original well should be oil
bearing at the crestal area thereby significantly
increasing the potential flow rates.

About Hook Head

The Hook Head Field is located in c. 240' water depth being c. 60 km
offshore Wexford and is situated in Standard
Exploration Licence 2/07 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. The Hook Head
structure is a large mid-basinal anticline where
three previous wells have successfully encountered hydrocarbon
bearing sands. The original 50/11-1 discovery well,
which was drilled by Marathon in 1971, logged c. 100 feet of
hydrocarbon bearing section in five sandstone units of
Lower Cretaceous age. The well was not flow-tested due to severe
operational issues at that time. The subsequent
50/11-2 appraisal well, which was drilled by Marathon in 1975 was
drilled as a delineation well at the down-dip edge of
the structure and encountered c. 25' of hydrocarbon bearing section.

In 2007, Providence drilled the 50/11-3 well on a central location
some 2 km northeast of the 50/11-1 well and
successfully logged a total of c. 110' of net hydrocarbon bearing
reservoir. The reservoir zones are of equivalent age to
those encountered in the 50/11-1 & 2 wells, located c. 2.5 km and c.
5 km to the south-west, respectively. Whilst key
reservoir and fluid data were acquired during the initial well
flowing period, down-hole mechanical conditions, which
were primarily related to the integrity of the casing string cement
bond, delayed the implementation of a full flow test
programme. The 50/11-3 well was suspended for future re-entry and
potential use as a production well.

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