Gas exploration licences granted

TWO new licences were granted yesterday for exploration in major gas fields around 100km off the west coast.

Marine Minister Noel Dempsey revealed Providence and Sosina Exploration Ltd have been awarded Frontier Exploration Licences for the Porcupine Basin off counties Clare and Kerry.

It is thought new extraction technologies at the fields could offer Ireland a unique source of clean low emission fuels.

The licences were granted to Providence (80%, operator) and Sosina Exploration, a British registered oil and gas exploration company, for a 16-year period.

The first licence covers the Spanish Point gas field off Clare, which was discovered in 1981 and was thought to be uneconomic due to low oil/gas prices, alack of extraction technologies and remoteness from gas infrastructure.

However, new technologies and increased prices have suggested the field is worth re-evaluating for commercial development.

Estimates show Spanish Point could contain up to 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and 112 millions of barrels of oil in the nearby Burren field.

The second licence covers the South Porcupine Basin which contains a super-giant deepwater exploration target named Dunquin, 80km from the Kerry coast.

Providence/Sosina will also launch a methane gas hydrates study, to assess levels of the gas in the deep waters off the coast.