The Corrib gas project () is a developed
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
deposit located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately off the northwest coast of
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, Ireland. The project includes a natural gas pipeline and an onshore gas processing plant, which commenced gas production in 2015. During its development, the project attracted
considerable opposition.
The Corrib field is Ireland's only domestic source of natural gas production.
History
The deepwater exploration licence No. 2/93 covering four blocks in the Slyne Trough was granted on 1 January 1993 for a period of 11 years to
Enterprise Oil and its partners
Saga Petroleum Ireland Limited,
Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Limited, and
Marathon International Petroleum Hibernia Limited. The licence was issued under the licensing terms for offshore oil and gas exploration and development 1992. The Corrib
natural gas field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...
was discovered in 1996. It was the first reported commercial natural gas discovery in Ireland since the
Kinsale Head gas field
The Kinsale Head gas field is a depleted offshore natural gas field in the Celtic Sea, located off the southern coast of County Cork, Ireland. Discovered in 1971 near the Old Head of Kinsale, it met Ireland's gas needs until 1996. The gas fiel ...
was discovered in 1971.
[
][
] The first appraisal well was drilled in 1997.
A number of consents and approvals to develop the Corrib Project were issued in 2001.
[
In 2002, Enterprise Oil was acquired by ]Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
who took over the operatorship of the project. Development of the project began in 2004, but it was delayed in 2005 when locals opposed the project. Shell announced the suspension of the project to facilitate further discussions with opposing parties. For a year, independent safety reviews were conducted to address various safety concerns in relation to the project.
In 1999, Saga Petroleum became a part of a Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...
and in 2007 a part of Statoil. In July 2009, Vermilion Energy acquired Marathon Oil's stake in the project.
Until 2018, Royal Dutch Shell was the operator of the project with a 45% ownership stake.[ In 2018, Shell sold its share of the project to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. As part of the transaction, Vermilion Energy became the project's operator and expanded its ownership share to 20%. In 2021, Vermilion acquired ]Equinor
Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renew ...
's 36.5% stake for $434 million (€382 million), becoming the majority owner of the gas field.
Development
Royal Dutch Shell proposed to develop the Corrib field as a sub-sea production facility with onshore processing. The project included development of offshore installations, including the wells and subsea facilities, construction of offshore and onshore pipelines, and construction of onshore processing plant at Bellanaboy.
Gas field
The Corrib gas field is located about off Erris Head in County Mayo
County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, in an area known as the Slyne Trough in water depths of .[
] Reserves in the field are believed to be about , 70% of the volume of the Kinsale field. The gas originates from a Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
Sandstone reservoir below the seabed. The natural gas in the Corrib Gas Field is a very pure form of gas, consisting of approximately 97% methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
and ethane
Ethane ( , ) is a naturally occurring Organic compound, organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is List of purification methods ...
. The Corrib gas does not contain hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...
and carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
makes up only 0.3% of the total amount of gas.
[.
]
There are five production wells at the Corrib field, drilled by Transocean
Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, ...
Sedco 711 semi-submersible
Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as:
*Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport
*Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface
*S ...
drilling rig. Each well has a "christmas tree" structure above it that contains the control and monitoring equipment. This subsea production system was constructed by Vetco, the offshore drilling and production supplier. Flexible individual flowlines will run from each well to a production manifold which will feed the gas into the main pipeline. There is no production platform installed in the field. Production at the gas field is remotely controlled from the Bellanaboy Bridge terminal.
Corrib Gas is expected to run out in 2026 or 2027 as its production peaked before 2020.
Pipeline
The pipeline from the Corrib field to the landfall at Glengad is approximately 90 km in length. The pipeline has a diameter of and it operates at pressures of . Work on the offshore section took place in summer 2009 and involved over 7,000 lengths of pipe being welded together on board the Solitaire
Solitaire may refer to:
Film and television
*'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film
* ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film
* ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film
*''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa
*"Solit ...
pipelaying vessel.[
][
] The onshore pipeline is in length and runs from landfall to the processing plant.
Processing plant
Gas is processed at the processing plant inland, near Bellanaboy Bridge. The purpose of the plant is to dry the gas and remove impurities. The plant has a capacity of 10 million standard cubic metres of purified gas per day. Processed gas is fed to the Bord Gáis
Cucerdea (, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune in Mureș County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bord (''Bord''), Cucerdea, and Șeulia de Mureș (''Oláhsályi'').
The commune is located in the southwestern part of ...
gas grid. The piping for the onshore processing plant was manufactured by Phoenix Pipes Limited in Slane, County Meath.
Controversy
Some opponents of the scheme cited concerns about the health, safety and environmental impact of the onshore aspects of the project. Others were concerned with alleged irregularities and precedents surrounding the project. Many groups, most notably the Rossport Five and Shell to Sea campaigns, opposed the current plans for the project, which they regarded as dangerous despite assurances from Shell. A contrary position is taken by the group Pro Gas Mayo.
A film about the project, '' The Pipe'', was released on 8 July 2010 at the Galway Film Festival.
Safety and environmental concerns
Pipeline route
The upstream high pressure gas pipeline connecting the wells to the inland processing site runs through the area of Rossport, close to local residences. A report by Dr. Richard Kupriewicz concluded that "the terrain makes escape routes for the clustered population essentially impossible in the event of a ipelinerupture".
Discharges from drying process
Broadhaven Bay is the proposed area to discharge waste from the refining process
Planning problems
Planning permission was initially refused by the board of An Bord Pleanála (the Irish planning authority). Senior planning inspector Kevin Moore's report stated in part:
In November 2009, An Bord Pleanála ordered Shell to redesign the pipeline and move its route away from homes saying it posed an "unacceptable risk".
Tax
Claims of a tax yield of some €1.7 billion over the life of the field have been made by the Irish government, based on data about the field's size and 2008 gas prices. Until 2007, the Irish Petroleum Licensing Terms imposed a flat 25% income tax on gas production revenues. In August 2007, the top rate of tax on the most profitable fields was increased to 40%.[
]
The new licensing terms called for changes to the tax imposed based upon fields' profit ratios (equal to the rate of profit
In economics and finance, the profit rate is the relative profitability of an investment project, a capitalist enterprise or a whole capitalist economy. It is similar to the concept of rate of return on investment.
Historical cost ''vs.'' mark ...
less 25% divided by the accumulated level of capital investment). Where this ratio is greater than 4.5, an additional 15% tax was imposed, where it is between 3.0 and 4.5 an additional 10% was imposed and where the profit ratio is between 1.5 and 3.0, and additional 5% tax was added. Less profitable fields were not affected.
Employment
The construction of the pipeline and plant was expected by Shell's economic consultants, Goodbody Economic Consultants, to create 800 temporary jobs and boost the local Mayo economy by approximately €181 million. The plant was expected by Shell to employ approximately 55 workers when operational.
During the project, over 1,100 staff were employed in construction, with over €320 million paid out in wages; the plant went on to employ 150 people.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Trailer for 'The Pipe' released 8 July 2010 – Galway Film Festival
'Pipe Down' film – winner – Waterford Film Festival 2010
Project Website
Corrib Gas Pipeline
Centre For Public Inquiry's review of events surrounding the Corrib gas project
Technical details of proposed pipeline from Accufacts Inc.
Mayo Gas Info
Bitter dispute over gas pipeline
– BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
news article on controversy
''Assessing the Corrib gas controversy: Beyond ‘David and Goliath’ analyses of a resource conflict'', by Slevin, A. (2019). The Extractive Industries and Society, 6(2), 519-530. https://doi.org//10.1016/j.exis.2018.11.004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corrib Gas Project
Corrib gas controversy
Geography of County Mayo
Natural gas fields in Ireland
Politics of County Mayo
Shell plc oil and gas fields