So, the proposed bill was a private
member's bill put forward by people
before profit and solidarity in
January/February earlier part of this
year which proposes to stop their
Irish government from issuing any new
expiration licenses for offshore
drilling for oil and gas, and the bill is
really dressed up as a climate emergency
measures bill that's what it's described
with the objective of trying to reduce
greenhouse emissions. The basis of their
bill is that the government should
not issue any new licenses if the CO2
levels as measured at a station in
Hawaii exceed 350 parts per million.
(The) problem with that is that 350 parts
per million figure was exceeded in 1990.
So, effectively what this bill is
proposing to do is ban offshore oil and
gas drilling and as we'll talk about it
it makes absolutely no sense for Island
to turn its back on its own hydrocarbon
potential when we're importing from all
over the world.
Well, first of all, the first solution is
acknowledgment that this bill will not
actually deliver what it's proposed to
do which is a reduction in greenhouse
emissions because if Ireland doesn't
develop its own and natural resources
then we're importing from overseas so
we're importing through pipelines or LNG
or oil tankers etc. so bringing oil and
gas to this country will
increase our carbon footprint. So, it's a
bit disingenuous to say this is
something that is dressed up and trying
to reduce greenhouse emissions when
actually if it was to be enacted it
would basically ensure that we actually
increase our greenhouse emissions.
Well, I think our solution is an
acknowledgement by the industry and
there were committee meetings in July
where the industry will work with
government and other agencies to try and
work on this transition to a lower
carbon Ireland and that's the objective
that everybody seems to be moving
forward with it and and we as an
industry are supportive of that but
we've got to be cognisant of the facts. I
mean, in 2016,
oil and gas provided 77% of Ireland's
energy needs, and so when you look
forward, and these are figures not from
us, these are for sustainable energy
Ireland, SEAI.
They point out that due to an increasing
population the fact that we will be
switching out and years to come from
coal and peat burning for electricity
power generation in Ireland, you know, there
will be a further increase in oil and
gas and consumption in this country. So,
by 2026, the estimates is that it'll be
87% of Ireland's energy needs are
going to be fueled by oil and gas. So, we
need a coherent strategy that says, well,
how do we acknowledge in the fact that
we're going to still need oil and gas to
power our economy? How do we move forward
and try and address people's concerns
about greenhouse emissions? And clearly,
the best thing is why would you shop
internationally when you can shop
locally so we have hydrocarbon resources
off Ireland. The Corrib gas field has
successfully produced now for a number
of years will continue for another ten
to fifteen years but then it runs out
and if we don't seek to replace that
with other opportunities, in terms of oil
and gas opportunities offshore island,
then we're going to be importing 100%
of our oil and 100%
of our gas and that makes no sense, it's
bad for Ireland in the context of
security supply.
It's bad from a balance of payments point of
view and as I say it also increases your
carbon footprint because you are
actually bringing the hydrocarbons to
you which obviously has a negative
impact in terms of greenhouse emissions.
So, there needs to be a thought through
strategy where the industry
works with all the agencies and the
government to try and progress the
energy solution for Ireland. Ireland is a
very successful country. We have big
foreign direct investment. We need to
ensure that that foreign direct
investment knows that there's secure
supply of energy. Brexit is coming around
the corner from us now. That in
itself creates big issues for Ireland
about where will we get our energy.
There's a conversation to be had, yes
absolutely, renewables will play an
important role and indeed their national
mitigation plan talks to a progression
to try and increase the penetration of
renewables but there will be huge
investment required. There'll be lots of
legislative changes required. There'll be
changes for planning because there's a
lot of NIMBYism where people don't want
wind farms or solar panels in fields
adjacent them. They'll be reinforcing the
grid so there's a lot of investment
that's going to be required, and again,
the facts are renewables only provided
8% of Ireland's energy requirements in
2016 and it's even on the
sustainable energy Ireland's estimate, by
2026, it's only going to
increase by 50% to 12%. So, again, it
points to the fact that if one has to
accept that oil and gas will play a role.
Yes, that can be increased penetration
and renewables biofuels various other
elements but it's got to be a well
thought through strategy and implement
it and get all the Constituent players
coming in and importantly, as we say,
we've got real potential offshore
Ireland, we've got proven established
fields we are developing our barrier oil
field and there are a huge amount of
activity of other international
companies coming to Ireland looking to
unlock the resource potential
of Ireland. Besides the environmental acts
benefits, there's obviously all that could
bring there's obviously also the jobs,
the investment, the exchequer revenue, these are all substantial things that
would be incremental to Ireland. So, as I
say, we're a part of the energy business
and we have a role to play, the oil and
gas industry have a role to play, and
what we needed is intelligent policies
that understand what Ireland's requirements
are now and going forward in the
future and that we don't cut our nose
off in spite of our face and actually
harm our economy by taking short-term
measures, such as this bill, that actually
do no good
other than increase our our greenhouse
emissions.