EXPLORATION company Providence Resources will begin a major drilling programme for oil and gas off the Irish coast next year.

Chief executive Tony O'Reilly told the Sunday Tribune that he hoped the company and its exploration partners would drill most of the 12 major sites for which it holds the licence in the next two years. The company has licences to explore for oil and gas off the western, southern and eastern coasts.

"The objective is drill up to 12 wells in the next two years," O'Reilly said. "There's a lot of proven [oil and gas] discoveries out there. Our objective is to get the low-hanging fruit first."

O'Reilly said the prospect of a major oil and gas find in Ireland has increased thanks to new technology that makes extracting hydrocarbons easier.

The company's shares have jumped 30% in the past two weeks giving it a market value of about £87m (€102m).