Ireland's oil and gas industry

[Catmalojin]

Rathlin Energy confirm they will drill second hole in Ballycastle

Rathlin Energy have confirmed that they intend to drill a second exploratory borehole at Ballinlea near Ballycastle.

The Canadian owned energy company have held the licence for oil and gas exploration in the North West since 2008.

During their initial explorations they found a small amount of oil.

Rathlin Energy have now completed further geological surveys and are in the process of finalising the location of their second exploration site.

Ballinlea

Local residents were invited to an open house event at the site of the original borehole to meet with executives from Rathlin Energy and discuss any concerns they had with them.

Rathlin Energy was awarded their exploratory licence in 2008 by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to explore the north coast for potential oil and gas reserves.

David Montagu-Smith, chairman of Rathlin Energy said: "Once we've gone through the analysis of the data we are bringing together our objective is to have chosen a well location by the autumn.

"We will then begin the process of a full planning application and that will take several months of preparation examining a lot of things that concern local people.

"We would hope by next year to be in the position to drill a well."

Although the meeting was primarily to inform local residents about the drilling of the second well concerns were raised by the residents about the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing possibly being used on the site.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process where water and chemicals are pumped down into rock, in order to cause a fracture and allow oil or gas to be released.

A spokesperson for the company addressed these concerns "Rathlin Energy is still hoping to be able to extract any oil and gas it finds by a conventional drilling process. If for some reason that proves impossible, the company may in future consider hydraulic fracturing, but that's a very, very long way off. Anything the company does will be subject to strict planning regulations."

Local residents had mixed opinions on the prospect of the upcoming work.

Lisa McKee said: "I found their arguments unconvincing, they haven't allayed my fears at all. I'm concerned any work here could effect the foundations of the area from here as far as Limavady and the Giants Causeway.

However councillor Joan Baird who loves near the site thinks the work could be beneficial.

"I think it's a very good thing actually, it's good for the local area and it could be very good for Northern Ireland as a whole if indeed there is a substantial quantity of oil found."

Rathlin Energy plan to hold another open house event when the location of the new site is finalised.

BBC News

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[Catmalojin]

21 June 2012 Last updated at 15:39

Stormont enterprise committee discusses 'fracking' plans

Plans to extract shale gas from a substantial gas field in County Fermanagh have progressed beyond simply looking at its environmental impact, according to a group opposed to the process known as fracking.

Dr Carroll O'Dolan of the Fermanagh Fracking Awareness Network was appearing before Stormont's enterprise committee to discuss the proposals.

Energy firm Tamboran was granted a licence in April 2011 to explore the potential of the process and examine any negative environmental effects.

"The feeling on the ground in Fermanagh is that this is already far more advanced than thinking of an environmental impact statement," Dr O'Dolan said.

Department of Enterprise official Mike Thompson said only a licence to explore had been granted.

"All we are doing at the present minute is having a look at what's down there," he said.

His comments were questioned by Sinn Fein Fermanagh MLA Phil Flanagan.

"If you are having a look to see what's down there, then how come Tamboran have published figures telling us exactly what's down there - the economic benefit, how many jobs it will create and how long it will give security of supply for," he said.

Mr Flanagan also asked why he was not aware of any consultation before the licence had been awarded and questioned Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster's involvement.

Mike Young of the Geological Survey Northern Ireland said the briefing paper offered to the committee showed all the people consulted, which included Fermanagh District Council, of which at the time Mr Flanagan was a member.

Mr Thompson said the minister had not signed off the licence and had "no role" in granting it.

This was disputed by Green Party leader Steven Agnew, who highlighted a letter sent to the committee by Mrs Foster in October 2010 which he said had informed members she was aware of the issue of a licence.

In response, Mr Thompson said: "She would have been aware of the process but that is very separate and distinct from having an active involvement in it."

BBC News

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[Catmalojin]

Dangers from fracking 'very low' if done correctly

RONAN McGREEVY

Sat, Jul 14, 2012

GAS DRILLING: THE DANGERS from fracking if done correctly are “very, very low”, according to one of the authors of a report commissioned by the British government.

Prof Zoe Shipton said unconventional gas drilling was not altogether different from conventional gas drilling, and had been used in the UK since 1969.

Prof Shipton, from the University of Strathclyde, was one of the speakers at the Euroscience Open Forum discussion on fracking yesterday, which attracted a capacity crowd.

No one on the panel was opposed to fracking.

A small protest by anti-fracking campaigners took place outside the Convention Centre Dublin.

Prof Shipton believed it was theoretically possible for fractured shale gas to seep into aquifers, but the amounts involved would be very small because the fissures in the rock are narrower than a grain of sand.

She said much of the problems in the United States occurred because the well casings were not secure enough.

Prof Shipton was commissioned with a number of other authors by the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir John Beddington, to examine the safety of fracking in light of an earthquake in Blackpool last year.

Prof Shipton said the earthquake was the only one recorded to date as a direct result of fracking.

She maintained the key to public confidence in fracking was establishing baseline values for water quality and ensuring that such procedures were properly monitored.

Ivan Pearson, a scientific officer in the European Commission’s energy security research unit, said that unconventional gas could account for 200 trillion cubic metres worldwide, increasing the amount of gas reserves by 50 per cent.

However, there was still a “huge amount of uncertainty around those figures” because extraction was not as efficient in unconventional gas.

He said the European Commission was putting forward a comprehensive report on the environmental and climate aspects of fracking which he did not want to prejudice, and he wanted to stick to the energy security of natural gas.

Europe has reserves of 16 billion cubic metres for fracking gas, enough to satisfy the continent’s gas needs for 30 years.

He warned that without unconventional gas, the percentage of Europe’s energy needs met by imported fuel would rise from 50 per cent to 70 per cent.

He said the problems in 2009 when gas was cut off to Ukraine by Russia – and similarly countries in southeastern Europe when Italy suffered gas shortages because of the Arab spring in Libya – underlined the vulnerability of Europe to outside energy supplies.

Mr Pearson said natural gas was now as cheap in the United States as it was in the Middle East as a result of unconventional gas drilling.

© 2012 The Irish Times

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[JD47]

Good news. So let it be.

[Catmalojin]

Providence says oil field off Cork could contain 1.6 billion barrels
Updated: 08:49, Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Oil exploration company Providence has said the Barryroe Oil Field off the southern Cork coast probably contains over a billion barrels of oil.

There is a possibility that it could contain up to 1.6 billion barrels.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said it was up to four times previous expectations.

The assessment was based on data from six oil wells drilled by Barryroe, together with 3D seismic data, as well as other regional data.

Providence is listed on the Dublin's ESM and the AIM in London.

The Chief Executive of Providence Resources has said work will now commence on figuring out how much oil can be extracted economically from the Barryroe oil field.

Tony O'Reilly Jnr said new plans and maps would be drawn up to see how the recovery could be maximised as cost effectively as possible.

Providence will now start looking for partners to continue the project through to first production.

Quality of oil 'better than expected'

Mr O'Reilly said the quality of oil tested was better than expected.

Analysis had shown it to be a ''sweet, light crude that moves well through the reservoir'' which he likened to ''a full bodied claret''.

Shares in Providence on the Dublin Stock Exchange were up over 7% in early trade to €8.95.

They are up almost 50% in the month since rumours first emerged that the Barryroe oil field could contain significant amounts of oil.

'Major oil field, even by North Sea standards'

The Chief Executive of Providence Resources described the Barryroe field as a major oil field, even by north sea Standards.

However Tony O'Reilly Jr stressed that it was the estimation that the field contains upwards of one billion barrel of oil describes "oil in place."

"You obviously have to then look at the abstraction technology to see exactly how much of that you can get out of the ground," Mr O'Reilly said.

"The key industry metric that everyone looks at is what is the recovery rate, we haven't put out any formal recovery rates yet, but to give you some guidance in the North Sea the average recovery rate from oil fields is about 38%."

"It may be a little bit less, it may be more, it really depends on the level of investment you make and the methodology you use to extract. But certainly, as I say the key thing is we're going to be moving forward with this."

In relation to any potential concerns by local communities about the extraction process Mr O'Reilly said that "one of the fundamental differences about the future Barryroe development is that the offshore extraction and processing will take place offshore."

Mr O'Reilly said local concerns are something that a company has to be aware of, and that it was important to communicate and ensure that all stake holders were informed about how a project would be moving forward, citing an example of his involvement in developing a zinc mine in Kilkenny in the nineties.

"There was controversy and we were able to demonstrate how you can successfully co-exist with the local environment."

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0725/pro...-business.html

Providence Resources finds 'more than 1bn barrels of oil' off Irish coast

An Irish oil exploration company has announced that it has found between 1bn and 1.6bn barrels of oil in Ireland's first commercially viable oil well.

Providence Resources has been carrying out tests at the Barryroe oil well 70km off the coast of County Cork.

The company's chief executive, Tony O'Reilly Jr, said it was a large and significant discovery that was four times bigger than they had expected.

The firm is also exploring a site near Rathlin off the Northern Ireland coast.

'Positive'

Mr O'Reilly Jr told BBC Radio Ulster: "It's a big resource by any standard - obviously very big for Ireland, but also even from a UK perspective, North Sea perspective, it would rank up there as one of the bigger discoveries."

He said the Barryroe find was a "positive development" that he hoped would attract inward investment and spark further interest in oil exploration off the Irish coast from other firms.

Providence Resources is currently exploring six sites off the island of Ireland, including those off County Cork and Rathlin island.

Back in March, the company revealed that its tests at Barryroe had confirmed there was enough oil at the site to declare it as the first commercially viable oil well in Ireland.

On Wednesday, the firm released more detailed estimates of the amount of oil present and said its figures had been "independently verified".

"Now it's a question of moving it forward to 'how much of that oil can we get out of the ground?" and 'how quickly can we do it?'", Mr O'Reilly Jr said.

"The first thing you always want to start off with is 'do you have a big enough cake?' and then it's a question of 'how do you slice that cake to optimise the return for your shareholders and indeed all the stakeholders?'"

The chief executive said his firm had been involved in oil exploration in "various corporate guises for 30 years" and explained that the well in question was the sixth they had drilled at the Barryroe structure.

Employment

He added that Providence Resources would now have go through "due process" in order to secure permits to extract the oil, which would include a period of public consultation.

He also said that his company would probably bring in third parties to assist in the oil extraction but said there would be "no shortage" of interest from other firms.

"The island of Ireland is a pretty good place to do business. The fiscal regime in Ireland for oil and gas exploration and exploitation is probably one of the more attractive fiscal regimes in the world."

Mr O'Reilly Jr claimed that if if the project could be successfully developed to bring oil ashore there would be benefits for taxpayers as well as shareholders in the form of tax, employment and "security of supply".

He told the BBC: "The exchequer would get sizable income from the successful exploitation of offshore fields both in Northern Ireland and the Republic."

BBC News

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[JD47]

So how much moeny would we be talking about? I still dont understand how all this works.

[thebig C]

Originally Posted by JD47

So how much moeny would we be talking about? I still dont understand how all this works.

It all depends on the price of oil per barrel really. Interestingly, this is located in the Celtic sea off the Southern Coast, so given that it is relatively shallow, it should be alot cheaper to bring to the surface. In contrast, off the Atlantic Coast, were the huge quantities to be found they would be in water so deep its right at the boundaries of engineering as to wheather we could actually expolit them.

[thebig C]

Overall, this is fantastic news.

A word of caution though....in the 1980s the O'Reillys made alot of money from a Company named Atlantic Resources which made similar claims but never produced any oil....

[JD47]

What does it mean for us though? Will we become like the new Dubai with a lot of money or will all the money go elsewhere? I think the goverment should invest in a national oil company now.

[Catmalojin]

Originally Posted by JD47

What does it mean for us though? Will we become like the new Dubai with a lot of money or will all the money go elsewhere? I think the goverment should invest in a national oil company now.

Still far too early to say, though it's unlikely we'll become a new Dubai (I wouldn't want to become a rentier state like those found in the Middle East anyway!). I'm still cautious about setting up a national oil company, until we have more details, and a few more major finds!

[JD47]

Originally Posted by Catmalojin

Still far too early to say, though it's unlikely we'll become a new Dubai (I wouldn't want to become a rentier state like those found in the Middle East anyway!). I'm still cautious about setting up a national oil company, until we have more details, and a few more major finds!

Do you think the goverment will make a new national oil company if more oil is found and if so will that company get any money from the find off the coast of Cork?

[Catmalojin]

Originally Posted by JD47

Do you think the goverment will make a new national oil company if more oil is found and if so will that company get any money from the find off the coast of Cork?

We'll get plenty of money regardless in terms of direct taxes on oil profits, as well as increased PAYE from employees (and thus lower money spent on social welfare), and VAT.

I'm not sure the government could just renegotiate a contract to increase its share though, it'd destroy the chances of getting more companies into the country to actually find more oil. For example, when Norway set up Statoil, its interests were only for future oil field finds, not current ones.

[JD47]

Originally Posted by Catmalojin

I'm not sure the government could just renegotiate a contract to increase its share though, it'd destroy the chances of getting more companies into the country to actually find more oil. For example, when Norway set up Statoil, its interests were only for future oil field finds, not current ones.

Very true indeed. Lets hope a bigger oil field is found somewhere else off the shores of Ireland. I wonder if there is any bigger ones then this one.

Its good news anyway mate and it will be good to see what happens

[Catmalojin]

Another announcement from Providence today...

Providence hails update on Drombeg prospect
By Geoff Percival

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

An updated technical study of the Drombeg exploration prospect off the west coast — which is 80% owned by Providence Resources — suggests that the field is larger and of more significance than initially thought.

Providence — partnered at Drombeg with Sosina Exploration — is not due to commence drilling at the field in the Porcupine Basin until the second half of next year at the earliest.

The company has made no firm decision as to when drilling might commence at Drombeg, but is thought to have a preference to see the outcome of drilling at the adjacent Dunquin field first.

Dunquin, which is operated by ExxonMobil, is due for drilling during the second half of next year.

On the Drombeg prospect, Providence’s management is understood to be keen to introduce a joint-venture partner to help with the drilling costs, similar to what it has planned for a number of its offshore Irish assets including the recent successful find at Barryroe near Cork.

This, however, will depend on the results from Dunquin.

The technical update at Drombeg was undertaken by international geoscience company, Ikon Sciences, which is partly owned by Tullow Oil, on behalf of Providence.

It will be formally presented at the upcoming third Central and North Atlantic Conjugate Margins Conference to be held at Trinity College Dublin later this month.

Providence is not yet viewing Drombeg as a proven oil or gas discovery. However, it is hailing the update as encouraging as it provides positive indications of a hydrocarbon presence, thus considerably "derisking" the prospect.

Elsewhere, in a briefing paper on Ireland’s offshore oil and gas potential, the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association urged the Government to help increase the level of exploration activity in Irish waters by upping promotion of the country to the international oil and gas industry, and also by putting in place a regulatory and administrative regime, facilitating "a predictable field development process".

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Another oil or gas discovery off the west Cork coast?

Exploration company Providence has said that there is significant potential in one of its licence areas in the Porcupine Basin.


A map of Providence Resources' Irish projects

THE LATEST SURVEY from exploration company Providence Resources has indicated that there may be another significant oil or gas find off the west Cork coast.

In an update on the Drombeg Prospect, located in the south Porcupine Basin, the company has said that there is “significant potential” in the area.

Technical director of Providence John O’Sullivan said that Drombeg is:

… exhibiting many of the key ingredients of a major hydrocarbon accumulation.

Drombeg lies around 3,000 metres below the seabed around 220 km off the west Cork coast.

Here comes the science bit…

The technical update reports on seismic analysis carried out by Ikon Science, and identifies:

• “a significant seismic amplitude anomaly and low seismic impedance as well as a marked amplitude versus offset response”.
• “the mapped seismic anomaly is consistent with a modelled hydrocarbon bearing sandstone interval”

The anomaly mentioned covers around 240 square km and is being compared to a BP-operated well which was drilled in the Porcupine Basin around 80 km from Drombeg in 1988, which was, according to Offshore Magazine “plugged and abandoned as a dry hole… the well has oil shows in the Upper Jurassic but encountered only poor reservoir section”.

More drilling

Providence is in control of 80 per cent of the licence to explore Drombeg. The other 20 per cent is held by Sonsina Exploration. The company will begin to drill its Dunquin project in 2013, and John O’Sullivan has said that the hydrocarbon evidence at Drumbeg has wider implications for Dunquin, work on which has been farmed out to ExxonMobil.

O’Sullivan also said that the location and water depth of Drombeg may mean that a partner with deepwater experience may be brought on board to carry out further exploration.

Last month it was announced that Providence had struck oil at Barryroe off the south Cork coast. The company suggested that there was as much as 1.6 billion barrels of oil at Barryroe.

Analysis

Joe Langbroek of Davy stockbrokers has commented that the “volumetric scale of the target is enormous”, and reckons that at least a 500 million barrel output for Drombeg is reasonable.

At $8 a barrel that would yield $3.2 billion. Langbroek said that Drombeg is likely to have a major impact on market assessments of Providence Resources.

TheJournal.ie

[Catmalojin]

Interesting development:

Providence offered new licensing option near Barryroe field
Updated: 11:34, Thursday, 9 August 2012


Providence offered new option to the west and north of Barryroe oil field

Providence Resources has been offered a new licensing option over a site adjacent to the Barryroe oil field, by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

The exploration firm said the Licensing Option 12/4 is located to the north and west of the Barryroe oil field and covers an area of about 500 square kilometres off the southern Cork coast.

Providence said last month that the Barryroe oil field probably contains over a billion barrels of oil.

The company will operate the option on behalf of its partner, Lansdowne. It said that the main elements of the proposed work programme involve assessing the prospectivity of the Barryroe Basal Wealden sand play across the area.

"We are extremely pleased to have been offered this option over a substantial acreage position directly north and west of the currently defined Barryroe oil field,'' commented the company's chief executive Tony O'Reilly.

''Our work programme has been designed to assess the potential of any extensions of the Barryroe field into the option area, together with determining whether any further satellite accumulations may exist close to the fields that warrant investigation," he added.

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0809/pro...-business.html

[odlum833]

Europa confirms two large prospects in South Porcupine Basin
19 September 2012 | 07:55am
Europa Oil & Gas has identified two large prospects in the highly prospective South Porcupine Basin, in the Irish Atlantic Margin.

It says the two prospects, Mullen in LO 11/07 and Kiernan in LO 11/08, were identified in the lower Cretaceous clastic play of the Irish Atlantic Margin - a play proven by the Burren oil discovery.

Seismic mapping shows potential for large stratigraphic closures of up to 120 sq km in size in the case of Mullen and 244 sq km in the case of Kiernan.

Chief executive Hugh Mackay said: "Having identified two large structures in the Irish Atlantic Margin, our initial technical work and prospect mapping exercise has exceeded our expectations.

"Combined with the presence of a functioning hydrocarbon system, as indicated by the Burren oil discovery, the size of these structures is tremendously exciting and warrants further priority investigation.

"We have embarked on a work programme that will provide volumetric estimates in due course and further mature the technical case of these prospects.

"We look forward to presenting the prospects at the Ireland Atlantic 2012 Conference in Dublin on 12 November 2012."

http://www.stockmarketwire.com/artic...ine-Basin.html

Oil rush....get in while you can!

[nigel20]

Wow...i'm amazed at the level of sucess the exploration companies are having in Ireland. A canadian campany (Sagres energy inc) is exploring the south coast of Jamaica, with two prospects and three leads with an estimate of three billion barrels of oil...i'm really hoping that we'll have a similar success as you guys.

[odlum833]

I think better and more efficient technology is driving Irish finds. That and probably big oil companies are willing to gamble more on other prospects due to declining output from established fields. This would apply pretty much everywhere I would have thought.

[odlum833]

Providence granted licence to drill off Dalkey
Updated: 18:07, Wednesday, 3 October 2012


A foreshore licence has been granted to Providence Resources to drill a single exploration well off the coast of Dalkey, Co Dublin.


Tony O'Reilly's Providence Resources has been granted a licence to drill an exploration well off the Dublin coast.


The licence was granted by Jan O'Sullivan, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Minister said she was satisfied that the proposed development would not have a significant negative impact on the marine environment.

She added that it was in the public interest to grant the foreshore licence having regard to the nature of the proposal.

The foreshore licence is subject to 22 conditions which include measures aimed at environmental protection, nature conservation, protection of marine mammals and fishery resources, preservation of archaeology, navigational safety, and human health and safety

RTE

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1003/pro...-business.html

[Catmalojin]

Opposition grows to drilling rig off south Dublin coast

JOE HUMPHREYS

Fri, Oct 05, 2012


A Providence Resources image shows where the exploratory drill will take place, 6km off Dalkey Island. Some in the business community have welcomed the move

A DRILLING rig to establish the scale of oil and gas reserves off the Dublin coast is due to be in place within six months after the approval of an exploratory foreshore licence.

Dublin-based Providence Resources has said it plans to have the rig in place 6km off Dalkey Island on the Kish Bank Basin in the first few months of 2013.

As local objections mount to the plan, however, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore last night backed calls for a public inquiry into any future application by the developers.

“The licence is for a once-off exploratory drill,” the Dún Laoghaire TD stressed, adding if a commercial licence was sought at a future stage, “I would expect a public inquiry to be held”.

The granting of the licence by the Department of the Environment was criticised yesterday by conservationists and some local politicians. However, sections of the business community in Dún Laoghaire have welcomed the potential investment for the area.

An Taisce, one of the objectors to the plan, said it believed insufficient environmental assessments were carried out as part of the application. “This is the first time that a licence with potential major threats of pollution so close to the shoreline has been granted,” it said.

“Overall, the assessment of the potential impacts of this exploration and drilling licence were not adequately evaluated to ensure the protection of a number of species and habitats. The precautionary principle should have been applied until the concerns voiced by An Taisce and others were addressed.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the planned drill was too close to shore. He cited the example of Norway where “there is no drilling allowed within the foreshore”, or a distance of 25km from the coast.

Lobby group Protect Our Coast, which is planning to hold campaign meetings in the bay area in the coming weeks, said it was “shocked” by the decision, while the Green Party’s spokesman on planning, Tom Kivlehan, called on Mr Gilmore “to use his influence at Cabinet to set up a public inquiry into the proposed drilling”.

However, Don McManus, who chairs the Dún Laoghaire Business Association, said he believed “there is an awful lot of scaremongering” about the issue.

“I don’t think we have a right as citizens not to pursue this to the nth degree. It would be commercial suicide as a country to turn our backs on this at a time when we are importing fuel all the way from Russia.”

While the issue has sparked heated debate in the port town, and most of the 700 submissions made on the licence had been objections, Mr McManus said he had experienced “no backlash” over his stance. “We find some of the politicians utilise issues as a soap box and maybe would not have the heart and soul of the people at the core of their objections,” Mr McManus added.

Providence said it was now in the process of procuring a survey vessel that will map a seabed area of 3sq km. This process is due to take about 15 days.

The rig will then be built, allowing for exploratory drilling over 30-60 days. The precise scale of the rig has yet to be revealed but, based on international comparisons, it would be at least 200ft high.

The firm says drilling will reach a depth of 5,000-11,000ft, with the cuttings to be discharged at the seabed, something fishermen fear may disturb local habitats.

If oil or gas reserves are found, an application for a commercial licence will have to be made. While the company has not ruled out building a pipeline in that scenario, it may opt instead for shipping any reserves away by tanker.

Providence has in recent weeks spoken to local yacht clubs, scuba diving clubs and other community groups about its plans, and a spokesman said it remained “open to approaches” to discuss the project further. A 500m safety zone is to be set up around the rig.

Dalkey is one of six Irish locations being explored by Providence with partner companies as part of what it says is an investment of up to $500 million. The most advanced of these, Barryroe, off Co Cork, was identified earlier this year as commercially viable.

© 2012 The Irish Times

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