There is good news today for oil company Petrel Resources.

It believes it has identified a new area in the South Porcupine Basin of the Irish Atlantic with  a billion barrel potential.

Petrel said it believes it will be able to source the oil through one well.

It is an Irish and London-listed oil exploration company established in the early 1980s.

Following the announcement today the company share price has seen a surge.

High-potential prospects

David Horgan is Managing Director of Petrel.

“We have long known that Ireland’s offshore Porcupine Basin is a hydrocarbon province” he said.

“There are established petroleum systems, reservoir sands and possible traps at several levels. Our recent work has identified a number of high-potential prospects, at least one of which, we believe, has a billion barrel potential” he added..

The focus of the operations of the firm is in Iraq where it has been seeking an agreement to develop three existing oil fields in Southern Iraq while applying for exploration acreage in the Western Desert.

Newstalk’s business editor Ian Guider says there are hopes that more could be found around Ireland.