Shannon LNG propose floating gas storage facility in north Kerry

Planning for a terminal on the landbank was refused last year, amid concerns fracked gas would be used.

A floating liquefied emergency gas reserve facility is being put forward by Shannon LNG at their 600-acre site on the Shannon between Ballylongford and Tarbert in Co Kerry.

An Bord Pleanála has listed the proposed development of a strategic gas emergency reserve facility and associated development works as a ‘Pre-Application consultation’. Consultation has yet to be concluded, the board said.

The mayor of Kerry Jim Finucane, who is meeting with directors during a visit to the USA for St Patrick’s Day has welcomed the commitment of the parent company, New Fortress Energy, to the communities of Ballylongford and Tarbert. The facility was needed urgently and it would be "a State-led approach", the company said in a statement this afternoon.

"Ireland urgently needs a gas reserve and New Fortress Energy is ready to deliver,’ it said in a press statement and attached video. The proposal was fully compliant with the Government’s requirements.

Planning for a terminal on the landbank was refused last year, amid concerns fracked gas would be used. The new proposal involves a floating ship which would be moored to a jetty at a depth of 21 metres.

The Shannon LNG proposal seeks to deliver on a key recommendation of the Government’s Security of Supply (SOS) Report published in November 2023 which advised that Ireland urgently needs a Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve, the company said.

"This would be provided through an offshore LNG Terminal made up of Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FRSU) ship moored to a jetty with a gas pipeline connection to the national gas grid." 

"The Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve will be owned and controlled by the State. The Shannon LNG application proposes to provide the necessary infrastructure to facilitate that. This is the approach taken by the National Oil Reserve Agency (NORA), which owns and controls the State’s national oil reserves which are held in storage tanks owned and operated by a private firm on Whiddy Island in County Cork.

"There was a limited number of sites suitable for such a reserve gas facility and the Shannon LNG site, with its sheltered deepwater access and permitted gas pipeline, is the ideal location." 

Five years of specialist survey work and pre-application analyses had already been completed for the Tarbert-Ballylongford landbank, it also said.