Corrib Gas bill heading for €3.4bn
The company driving the project, Shell E&P
Ireland Ltd (SEPIL), confirmed yesterday that
the Corrib Gas Partners last year spent a
further €250m on the project.
The 2012 outlay brought the total spend to
€2.68bn at the end of Dec 2012.
Work continues on the subterranean 5km tunnel
to bring the gas ashore and a Shell spokesman
confirmed that a further €380m will be spent
on the project this year, with a projected
€300m to be spent in 2014.
The firm expects the tunnel to be completed
by the middle of next year with gas to flow
by 2015.
The spiralling costs make the project the
largest commercial investment by private
investors in one single scheme in the history
of the State.
Gas was originally expected to flow from the
field in 2003 resulting in the project likely
to now be 12 years behind the schedule, and
the outlay more than four times the initial
estimate of €800m.
The Corrib gas partners had hoped that gas
would be brought ashore in 2011 — but this
was before An Bord Pleanála ruled that half
of a proposed overground pipeline would be
unsafe, necessitating the construction of the
tunnel.
The project is now counting the cost of that
decision with the projected spend on the
entire scheme in 2013 and 2014 totalling
€680m.
SEPIL are not in a position to provide the
cost of the tunnel, however, a spokesman said
‘a sizeable proportion’ of the spend in
2013/14 is on the tunnel.
Accounts recently filed with the Companies
Office by SEPIL show the firm recorded a
pre-tax loss of €23.7m last year.
A tax credit of €6.4m helped reduce the loss
to €17.2m.
Remuneration for the firm’s three directors
last year topped €1.4m with staff costs
dipping from €18.89m to €18.3m.
SEPIL’s shareholder funds last year topped
€1.254bn after the firm received a further
cash injection of €175m.
Shell has a 45% share in the field with its
two partners, Statoil having a 36.5% share
and Canadian-owned Vermilion owning the
remaining 18.5% share.
