Domestic attempts to meet our increasing demand
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Thursday February 21 2008
Marathon Oil moved yesterday to assure its commitment to the Irish market, as it completes a review of its international business, including its assets here.
The company, which has been active in Ireland since 1961 and, apart from Kinsale, also owns an 18.5pc stake in the Shell-operated Corrib gas field, said that while it is actively looking to sell off Irish assets it would continue to work in the Irish market, if an acceptable offer was not received.
Meanwhile, there have been attempts on the homefront to increase the security of gas supplies in Ireland, apart from the various efforts to focus on alternative fuel sources, according to the Commission for Energy Regulation.
The Marathon project includes gas storage facilities at the Southwest Kinsale reservoir. Currently, the maximum storage facility is seven billion cubic metres (bcm) or six days of Ireland total peak demand.
The Corrib Gas Field, which is located off Erris Head in Co Mayo, is expected to have reserves of 30 billion cubic metres (bcm), with an estimated field life of between 15 and 20 years.
At its peak, it is expected that it will decrease our import requirements to around 60pc of demand.
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal which is to be developed by Shannon LNG is currently going through the planning process.
According to CER, completion of the project will enhance Ireland's long-term security of gas supply through the provision of storage facilities.
The currently proposal is that the terminal will initially consist of two tanks with a total capacity of eight billion cubic feet (bcf) or seven days storage of Ireland's peak-day demand.
In addition, the authorities in the Republic and the North are currently developing plans to progress some common arrangements for gas between the two jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, with the Irish market still dominated by Bord Gais, there has been competition at the commercial end from the likes of Swiss-backed Vayu, which claims it has over 20pc of commercial business.
- Ailish O'Hora
