Corrib gas sales down by 72pc

That is according to new figures provided by Corrib Gas operator, Canadian company, Vermilion Energy, which showed that the company's sales from the field totalled C$7.268m (€4.6m) compared to sales of C$25.9m for the corresponding period last year.

Total estimated sales from the entire field for the second quarter would be around €23m based on Vermilion's 20pc share.

The second quarter coincided with much of the Covid-19 lockdown here and the figures for the first half of this year show the Corrib sales for Vermilion are down 62pc compared to the first half of 2019.

Fund flows for Vermilion for Corrib Gas for the first six months of this year total C$14.18m compare to C$56.39m for the same period last year - a drop of 74.8pc.

The quarterly report states that production was down 22pc in the most recent quarter year on year primarily due to natural gas decline as well as higher unplanned downtime.

"The natural decline profile of Corrib continues to be in line with our expectations," the report said, adding that the Corrib Gas project will be "offline" for three weeks in the current quarter.

The report explains: "During the second quarter we deferred a planned turnaround in Ireland due to the Covid-19 restrictions and now plan to complete this turnaround in Q3 2020, which will result in the Corrib project being offline for approximately three weeks."

On the issues of taxes for the project, the report also stated that "given the significant level of investment in Corrib and the resulting tax pools, we do not expect to incur current income taxes in the Ireland Business Unit for the foreseeable future".