The Kinsale Head gas field is a depleted offshore natural gas field in the Celtic Sea, located off the southern coast of

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Discovered in 1971 near the Old Head of Kinsale, it met Ireland's gas needs until 1996. The gas field is located in a water depth of 100 metres and 1,000 metres below the seabed. The field extends over Blocks 49/16, 48/20, 48/25, 49/21. The reservoir is a Lower Cretaceous sandstone (Wealden and Greensand) lying at a depth of 2,700 to 3,100 feet. The gas composition was >99% methane with a calorific value of 1.012 Btu/ cubic foot. Operator Kinsale Energy Limited extracted its last commercial quantity of gas on 5 July 2020, after which they ceased production. Decommissioning works began immediately afterwards and are expected to conclude in 2023. These works will include the removal of both platforms. During its 42 years in operation, the Kinsale gas field produced an estimated 2 trillion cubic feet (57 billion cubic metres) of natural gas. A floating wind turbine project is under development for the area.

History

Marathon Oil's Irish subsidiary Marathon Petroleum Ireland Ltd., started exploring for oil off the south coast of Ireland and in 1971 instead of finding oil, gas was found off the Old Head of Kinsale by the drill ship ''Glomar North Sea''. The discovery was confirmed as being commercially viable. Bord Gáis Éireann was established in 1975 and confirmed by the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): ** Dáil Éireann ...

in 1976 under The Gas Act (1976) as the supplier and distributor of gas in Ireland. Gas came on stream in 1978. The field was developed through two offshore installations. The process plant comprises a gas/liquid separator, gas is dehydrated in a glycol dehydrator. Production of gas (in million cubic feet) was:Peak production occurred in 1995. In 2008, the gas field was proposed as a potential place for the purpose of carbon dioxide capture and storage. A number of small fields now feed the Kinsale Head platforms including Ballycotton (discovered 1991), Southwest Kinsale (1999) and Seven Heads (2003). Southwest Kinsale was later used for

gas storage Natural gas is a commodity that can be stored for an indefinite period of time in natural gas storage facilities for later consumption. Usage Gas storage is principally used to meet load variations. Gas is injected into storage during periods o ...

, primarily for the winter months. These subsea completions are summarized in the following table.

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested w ...

acquired Marathon's Irish operation in 2009. The nearby discovery at Barryroe is controlled by

Providence Resources Providence Resources is an Irish oil and gas exploration company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange. Its primary activities are the exploration and development of hydrocarbons offshore Ireland and the United K ...

References

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