Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
1328. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated price of oil on which his Department is basing its future energy projections in terms of energy security. [1825/18]
View answerThe oil prices used for the National Energy Projections by SEAI are based on the ESRI COSMO (Core Structural Model of the economy) oil price. The COSMO oil price in turn comes from the UK NiGEM (National Institute Global Econometric Model) model which is maintained by the UK National Institute of Economic and Social Research. The rationale is to have a price that reflects global macroeconomic projections.
The oil prices used in the 2017 are as follows:
|
- |
2017 Projections |
|
- |
$2013 barrel of oil equivalent |
|
2017 |
48.3 |
|
2020 |
56.8 |
|
2030 |
69.4 |
Note the prices are based in constant 2013 values as that is the base year used for all prices in COSMO.
Also note that the values quoted are the annual weighted average prices.
In terms of security of supply of oil, long standing policy has been to ensure that oil and oil products are available in the event of an emergency. In this regard Ireland holds 90 days of emergency oil stocks, in accordance with International Energy Agency (IEA) rules and EU legislation, to be used in the event of a supply disruption.
The National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA), which is under the aegis of my Department, is responsible for acquiring and managing Ireland’s 90 days of emergency oil stocks and does so within the oil market. NORA is funded by way of the NORA levy, which is currently 2c per litre of oil or oil product consumed. NORA monitors the price of oil on the markets and factors pricing concerns into purchasing decisions when sourcing oil to maintain its 90-day stockholding.
