Shannon estuary gas terminal would cut prices, say promoters

The promoters of a delayed €600m gas terminal proposed for the Shannon estuary have claimed the development would create “real competition” in Irish gas prices.

Shannon LNG has been granted planning permission for a site on the Tarbert/Ballylongford landbank, in north Kerry, but work is on hold pending a decision from the Commission for Energy Regulation.

The project was announced in May 2006 and since then, promoters have invested almost €50m in securing planning and other permits. The project would create up to 600 construction jobs, and around 50 jobs when completed.

There is overwhelming support for the project in the north Kerry and west Limerick areas, but one group, Safety Before LNG, is opposed to it.

In Jan 2011, the CER announced its intention to fundamentally change the current interconnector tariff policy and the Shannon LNG project has effectively been on hold ever since.

Now, in a newsletter distributed to politicians and energy industry stakeholders, Shannon LNG claimed a terminal located in Ireland would give direct access to competitive gas supplies and create real competition in the wholesale gas market, forcing energy prices down.

It said advances in extraction technology have led to huge increases in global gas supply and the price of natural gas has fallen to its lowest level in ten years in the US.

Gas in the US was now about half the price of a year ago and less than a quarter of the all-time high price in 2005, it added.

The newsletter also said the US price was a quarter of the price of natural gas in the UK, where Ireland sources 95% of its supplies through the Bord Gáis interconnector pipelines.

’The US, which only a few years ago was an importer of gas, is set to become an exporter of gas via LNG.

This presents international gas markets and, potentially, Ireland with a gigantic new source of more competitive gas supply, via LNG shipments,’ the newsletter said.