The gas field off County Mayo, the Corrib Field, has not yet been declared commercial; further appraisal drilling is being undertaken and Enterprise Oil hopes to be in a position to decide on commerciality in December this year.
The final decision as to whether the field is commercial will depend on factors such as the volumes of gas in place, the quality of the reservoir, the quality of the gas, the flow rate of wells, market availability and price and the cost of development. Calculation of the size of the gas accumulation is too imprecise at this stage based on data currently available but this will be known with more precision once the accumulation has been fully appraised.
Should the results of this appraisal drilling enable the company to establish that the field is commercial then it will be the duty of Enterprise Oil to apply to me forthwith for a petroleum lease and subsequently, a plan of development with a view to its development. Should the field be declared commercial my understanding from the company is that it would be its intention to have the gas in production by mid-2003.