Vol. 419 No. 7
98 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Energy if he will give details of the examination and progress which has been made to safeguard and ensure long term gas supplies to customers; whether EC funding will be made available to ensure long term gas supplies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As stated on a number of previous occasions, I have made it a priority, since taking office. to secure the long term future of our natural gas industry.
With this in mind, I have obtained Government approval for the construction by Bord Gáis Éireann of a subsea interconnector, linking our gas grid at North County Dublin with that of the UK in southern Scotland. This project is on schedule for completion in October 1993. When completed, it will give us added security of supply, both from having a second pipeline into our gas grid, and access to further supplies into the long term future, after the decline of the Kinsale reserves. In the meantime, Bord Gáis Éirann plans to purchase back-up supplies of gas pending its entry into longer term conracts late in the decade.
The interconnector project is receiving grant aid equivalent to approximately 35 per cent of eligible expenditure from the European Community under its REGEN Initative.
In addition, I entered into a five year exploration agreement with the Marathon company in December of last year under which Marathon will drill seven exploration wells in our offshore and acquire 4,000 Km of seismic data, in the period 1992-1996.
