Make or break time for Irish exploration

THERE is an opinion that Ireland is missing its real opportunity to be a meaningful part of the international oil and gas exploration industry.

Amidst all the hope, hype, near misses, and false dawns of drilling activity around the country’s coastline in the past few years there has been an overlooked ignorance, on the part of third-level institutions, to embrace advanced engineering subjects that can build knowledge in such areas as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and reservoir engineering that could, ultimately, lead to a new generation of highly technical Irish start-up firms that can make a real impact in the sector on a global basis.

In essence, Ireland could strive to be an international leader in the area of energy knowledge and technical engineering expertise, but needs to put more building blocks in place.