Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 20 Nov 1996

Vol. 471 No. 7

Written Answers. - Offshore Exploration Licences.

Peter Barry

Ceist:

421 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the number of exploration licences which have been granted to companies seeking offshore oil and natural gas deposits in each of the years since 1990; the number of companies which exercised their options; the number of granted licences which did not carry out any exploration work; if recent results suggest the presence of commercial quantities of oil and/or natural gas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21857/96]

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Stagg)

The following table sets out the number of petroleum exploration licences granted by my Department and the number of licensing options which were converted into licences in each of the years from 1990 to date:

Year	Number	Type	Options Converted
1990	2	Standard	2
1991	0	—	0
1992	1	Standard	1
1993	3	Standard	4
	1	Deepwater
1994	2	Standard	2
	5	Frontier
1995	3	Standard	2
	8	Frontier
1996	1	Standard	1

The work obligations of standard, deepwater and frontier exploration licences differ in so far as drilling the first exploration well is concerned. In the case of a standard licence the licensee has an obligation to drill during the first three years of the licence, whereas the obligation arises during the first four years for a deepwater licence. For a frontier licence the well need not be drilled until the second phase of the licence and as the length of the phases varies this could be into the eighth year of the licence. As a result some of the well obligations under these licences have not yet arisen. Exploration work has been carried out by the licensees on all of these licences. However, one licensee did not meet its well obligation programme and the licence was revoked.

With regards to the presence of commercial quantities of oil and/or natural gas, I take it that the Deputy is referring to this year's discovery of gas by Enterprise Oil in their second well in the Slyne Trough. Enterprise intended testing this discovery, but despite their best efforts they were unable to do so because of mechanical problems arising in the well. It is my understanding that they will be acquiring new seismic data in the area of the discovery in order to determine the optimum location for further drilling.

Statoil will be drilling an appraisal well and conducting an extended well test on the Connemara Field early next year in order to establish its ability to produce and to give more certainty to the calculation of oil-in-place. Oil from the extended test will be collected and sold and will be the first commercial oil production from Ireland. If the test results are satisfactory, Statoil plan to move into a rolling development programme for full production of the field.

There is now a near record number of exploration licences in place and this year seismic activity has been at a near record level also. As licences and seismic acquisition are a necessary precursor to drilling, I am hopeful that exploration drilling levels will continue to be at a high level for some time to come.

Details of petroleum exploration and development authorisations are contained in a six monthly report for Dáil Éireann which is available in the Dáil Library.