Oil firms happy as State protects existing drilling licences from exploration ban

Cabinet has approved a ban on future oil and gas licences becoming law, but existing projects such as the project in the Barryroe field may still proceed.

Oil and gas firms operating offshore Ireland have welcomed the Government's formal protection of existing exploration by not including current licences in its ban on future drilling.

However, exploration opponents said new Government legislation does not go far enough to end fossil fuel development.

The issuance of future licences to drill for oil and gas in Irish waters was tentatively banned last year. Environment minister Eamon Ryan has now moved to copperfasten those bans into law by having them included in the pending Climate Action Bill.

Environment minister Eamon Ryan is moving to further formalise the new ban on new exploration licences, by including it in the Climate Action Bill. Picture: Julien Behal

It means no future government will be able to issue new exploration licences.

While the move will significantly dent fossil fuel prospecting in Ireland it will not eradicate the industry. Existing oil and gas drilling licences remain exempt from the ban and significant licences remain in ownership.

Providence Resources plans to develop its Barryroe field, which lies off the Cork coast in the Celtic Sea, in the coming years and British explorer Europa Oil and Gas is readying a revised farm-out programme targeting development partners for its gas assets near the Corrib field off the west coast.

Industry representative group, Irish Offshore Operators’ Association (IOOA), welcomed what it called the State’s “renewed commitment” to existing oil and gas exploration.

The president of the IOOA,  Alan Linn, said: 

“This will enable our members to proceed with projects around [the] Barryroe and Corrib fields with confidence,”

Mr Linn is also chief executive of Providence Resources, which last year clinched a Norwegian-led consortium of funding and development partners. Together, they plan to begin developing Barryroe late next year.

Mr Linn said the rationale for a future ban on exploration is questionable “as it limits Ireland’s options for energy security in the future”.

Projects such as Barryroe will still require separate regulatory, government, and environmental approval before work can begin, but Mr Ryan not changing the existing drilling ban proposals means they should have a future.

Mr Ryan said he expects a further number of existing licences to be relinquished by companies, on the back of his move, “given the increasingly challenging global investment environment for fossil fuels”.

Anti-drilling campaigners have welcomed the update, but want more. Friends of the Earth said any new drilling is not compatible with the Paris climate change agreement. 

Kate Ruddock, the deputy director of Friends of the Earth, said: 

“We will be calling for the ending of all oil and gas exploration with a specific date for the termination of existing licences.”

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith, who brought a bill proposing the banning of offshore drilling before the Dáil two years ago, said a ban on future licences, alone, is not enough.

“Some of the existing licences are good until 2034 and possibly beyond and some are facing renewal immediately," said Ms Smith. "We need the minister to declare that he will use his existing powers to refuse to renew these."