€90m Shell injection to meet soaring Corrib bill
SHELL Ireland has received a fresh cash injection of €90m from its parent to deal with the spiralling costs of the Corrib gas field project.
Documents filed with the Companies Office confirm the additional monies as Shell Ireland revealed that the 5km on-shore gas pipeline will not be completed before the second half of 2104.
Corrib partners Shell, Statoil and Canadian-owned Vermillion are nine years behind the initial target to start generating revenue from the field.
The initial estimate for developing the field was €800m; the final bill is now expected to be more than three times that, at near €3bn.
The company documents show that Shell E&P Ireland's Ltd's authorised capital now tops €704m.
"The €90m is to support our ongoing activities on Corrib," a spokeswoman said.
The project partners had hoped gas would be brought ashore last year -- however, this was before An Bord Pleanala ruled that half of the proposed overground pipeline would be unsafe, necessitating the application for a tunnel.
Spending on developing the field is expected to increase this year by an additional €378m.
The total Corrib spend at the end of December last was an estimated €2.35bn.
In a written Dail response last week on the progress of the work, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte said it was estimated that construction on the onshore section of the pipeline would take in the region of three years.
He said: "First gas cannot therefore reasonably be anticipated before 2014."
- Gordon Deegan
Irish Independent
