Irish oil and gas explorer Providence Resources said a new investor has had to delay the second tranche of its investment in the company, which amounts to £200,000 (€224,000).

The company said Norwegian oil and gas development company SpotOn Energy, which has agreed an exclusivity period to examine development of Providence’s key asset, has had to delay the payment by one week after experiencing “some delays in closing out the necessary arrangements with its consortium”. It attributed the delay to “current working and travel restrictions”. The funds were supposed to be with Providence by last Monday, May 18th.

On April 6th, the deal with SpotOn was announced, with the company investing £300,000 at that time. The explorer said that, along with funds raised from other investors, would provide it with sufficient working capital to see it through to April 2021.

Providence was in a similar position last year with a previous partner delaying payment on several occasions, ultimately forcing Providence to re-engineer its business and “materially” reduce its cost base.