Vol. 477 No. 2
316 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he has satisfied himself that there are adequate fuel storage facilities at the Whiddy Oil Terminal, County Cork; and the plans, if any, he has for the reopening of this terminal. [8766/97]
The storage facilities at the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal comprise approximately one million tonnes, 7.5 million barrels of crude oil storage and associated tankage. At the time of the Gulf crisis in 1990, the Irish National Petroleum Corporation was instructed to purchase 1.5 million barrels of crude oil for strategic stock purposes and these stocks are still held at the terminal. These stocks represent 12 days of Ireland's national oil reserves and the National Oil Reserves Agency proposes to increase stocks to 20 days once the terminal is in operation.
The reactivation of the terminal was announced in March 1995. Since then a single point mooring has been installed together with associated pipework and ancillary services. Discussions are continuing between Bantry Terminals Ltd., the operator of the facility and statutory bodies regarding the issue of permits and licences. It is hoped that these will be finalised shortly and that operations at the terminal can be re-established in the near future. There are no firm proposals for third party commercial use of the terminal at this stage and the terminal will continue to be utilised for the storage of national oil reserves.
