Vol. 577 No. 4
210 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the discoveries of gas, oil or other minerals, on or offshore, which have been capped or whereby a decision has been made not to proceed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31645/03]
Where exploration companies make a find of petroleum, that find is then subject to a detailed assessment of its geological and commercial significance. It may be, as regularly happens, that the petroleum is either present in very small and insignificant quantities or is not present in sufficient quantity to justify the enormous costs of development. In these cases there is no commercial justification to proceed and the find is capped, that is, plugged and abandoned. This has happened a number of times in Ireland, most notably in the offshore Connemara oil discovery in 1997 and, more recently, in the two small onshore gas discoveries made in County Cavan – Dowra No. 2 – and County Leitrim – Thur Mountain No. 1 – during 2001. In other cases, such as the 2002 Dooish gas condensate discovery off Donegal, the capping of a find does not necessarily mean that a final decision has been taken on its commercial significance.
In principle of course, any capped find is accessible to further appraisal drilling and re-assessment. Such work might be justified by the results of full post-drilling data evaluation, the availability of new technologies, nearby discoveries or changed economic conditions. During all stages of exploration or appraisal drilling programmes a decision to permanently cap a well is only made with the prior approval of my Department.
I am not aware of any circumstances as described by the Deputy in relation to non-petroleum minerals.
