‘Business as usual’ as State issues new oil licence

January 18th, 2019

One of Ireland’s biggest oil companies today received State approval for an exploration licence as the Minister for Climate Action held a landmark meeting on his All of Government climate plan.

Providence Resources, under the JV Partners name together with TOTAL E&P Ireland and Sosina Exploration Limited, was today granted a Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) for a site in the southern Porcupine Basin off Ireland’s south-west coast.

The FEL will come into effect from 1 February following approval from the Minister of State for Natural Resources, Sean Canney TD.

Providence’s technical director Dr John O’Sullivan said that the company was “very pleased” with the ministerial approval for the “very large and exciting” prospect –  a geological trap that has not yet been drilled.

The announcement of the decision came as Mr Canney’s departmental colleague, the Minister for Climate Action, Richard Bruton TD met over 100 stakeholders at Croke Park to discuss how we can “step up our response to climate disruption”.

‘Spin Machine in full flow’

Today’s decision to grant the licence, however, contrasted with Mr Bruton’s “lofty rhetoric on climate change”, according to People Before Profit’s Brid Smith.

Ms Smith, whose Bill to limit the issuing of new licences is currently held up in committee limbo, said that the timing of the announcement was “especially ironic” during the stakeholder meeting with the “Government spin machine in full flow”.

“Today the Minister [for State] and Government have put the financial interest of a small elite ahead of our commitments to climate, the environment and the earth, it’s business as usual,” she said.

Michael Ewing of the Environmental Pillar coalition had earlier asked Mr Bruton at the stakeholder meeting as to how he deals with the “schizophrenic nature” of the Department as it acts as both “gamekeeper and poacher” working to reduce emissions while also issuing exploration licences.

Mr Bruton said that it is a “strength and not as a weakness” to have the two roles with the Department as it allows him to lead a change in the patterns of energy production in Ireland.

Porcupine Basin

In July 2017, the department gave consent to Providence Resources to begin drilling for oil and gas in the Porcupine Basin off the south-west coast of Ireland.

The decision was announced just days after a Bill to ban onshore fracking in the Republic of Ireland was signed into law by President Michael D Higgins.

Providence evaluated the Druid and Drombeg wells using the Stena IceMAX deep-water drillship, which can drill down to depths of up to 10,000m.

This exploratory drilling at the two wells turned up poor results, with the company’s stocks dropping by 16 per cent in Dublin and almost 30 per cent in London after it announced the poor results.

Ballyroe legal proceedings

Last November, the environmental charity An Taisce initiated judicial review proceedings against DCCAE in relation to the granting of an oil and gas exploration licence off the Cork coast.

The licence issued to Exola DAC, a subsidiary of Providence, relates to sonar and other testing and seabed clearance at Barryroe south of the Old Head of Kinsale.

Earlier this year, Providence signed a deal with the Chinese energy consortium APEC to fund appraisal drilling in the Barryroe field.

The post ‘Business as usual’ as State issues new oil licence appeared first on Green News Ireland.