Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 May 2000

Vol. 518 No. 6

Written Answers. - Offshore Exploration.

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

70 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the proposals he has for the piping ashore of natural gas from the Corrib Field; when the gas will be made available for the national gas network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12921/00]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Mr. Fahey)

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.

The plan of development mentioned above will contain details on the design, siting, construction, establishment, operation, abandonment and removal of facilities, including the export pipeline from the field to the onshore terminal, for the production, processing, storage or shipment of gas produced. Any transmission pipeline downstream of the onshore terminal does not form part of the development and is, therefore, not subject to my approval, being a matter for the Minister for Public Enterprise.

Pending completion of the appraisal programme no decision has been taken on an upstream pipeline location. However, it is understood that Enterprise Oil is considering a number of different possible pipeline routes and landfall locations. Initial route surveys have been conducted over several possible routes and more are planned for this year.

I note BGE's recent announcement of extending the national grid from Dublin to Galway and Ennis and it is likely that this could have an influence on decisions by the Corrib licensees regarding the marketing of the gas. Responsibility for the national gas grid is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Public Enterprise.

The Deputy may wish to note that in the 2025 report published recently by Bord Gáis, in regard to ways in which expected demand will be met after 2004, the Corrib gas accumulation was identified as one of the three preferred supply options to be considered further. The other two options identified were the duplication of the existing Scotland-Ireland interconnector and the construction of a gas pipeline from Scotland through Northern Ireland.