Shell chiefs ‘believe gas stock could be massive’

EXECUTIVES at multinational energy company Shell believe the Irish state could be in possession of massive gas resources off the west coast, “up to 20 times” the scale of the already discovered Corrib field.

A confidential US embassy cable leaked by the Wikileaks site reports that Julian Cetti, Shell Ireland’s head of commercial and business strategy, said the highly lucrative Corrib gas field and another development planned by the US firm Hess in the Shannon area would be enough to meet domestic gas demands for many years.

The cable, sent in April 2008 from the US embassy in Dublin and marked confidential, states Cetti said “there ‘could be 20 or more Corribs out there — or very little — depending on how the exploratory drilling progresses this year’.”