How Much Oil Reserves Does Ireland Have?

pirelli

Overheal wrote: »

Why do you think I was stationed out in Clare for so many years?

>_>

<_<


80 million barrels. Low priority. Abort! Abort!

What were you doing in clare it's off the coast of Kerry.


Did I mention that by the time you refine it oil will be selling at $1.40 a barrel so its dirt cheap really.

Overheal

Clare was my cover :cool:

ejmaztec

Overheal wrote: »

Clare was my cover :cool:

Drag queen?

Ruen

mickdw wrote: »

ok the deal was pretty crap but at that time, we didnt have any money to go searching for oil off the coast. I guess the government figured that the employment & security of supply that any find would provide was payment enough, not to mention the taxes that will be paid on profits made after capital costs have been covered.

Possibly, but then again Ray Burke is known to have taken large bribes on a number of occasions from developers and commercial entities in return for lucrative decisions in their favour with total disregard for what was in Irelands best interest...
Why did he agree such a bad deal for us?? People can make their own conclusion on that

USA

Shell and Statoil’s planned drilling is part of the exploratory phase of their Frontier Exploration Licences and they will have up to 15 months to decide whether they will mine commercially off Donegal. Previous drilling in this area resulted in shows of gas and oil, with the potential of these resources worth billions. Indeed, estimations by the Petroleum Affairs Division (Dept of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources) indicate that there is a possible 10 billion barrels of hydrocarbons in the North Atlantic Margin which at current market prices is worth approximately 600 billion euros. However, “due to changes in legislation Donegal, indeed Ireland, will not see any profits, royalties or taxes for our natural resources” claimed a spokesperson for MAOR, Amanda Slevin. She continued by highlighting that the people of Ireland are not guaranteed a supply of their own natural resources and will have to pay full market prices for their own gas and oil. “Our country is set to lose a potential 600 billion euros worth of resources, to which we have a constitutional right, without any consultation with the people of Ireland.”

Source: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86254

But don't ever expect to read anything resembling the truth in the Fianna Fail controlled Irish media.

In May 2007 the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (now replaced by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources) reported that there may be volumes over 130 billion barrels (2.1×1010 m3) of petroleum and 50 trillion cubic feet (1,400 km3) of natural gas in Irish waters[43] - worth trillions of Euro, if true. The minimum 'guaranteed' amount of oil in the Irish Atlantic waters is 10 billion barrels (1.6×109 m3), worth over €450 billion. There are also areas of petroleum and natural gas on shore, for example the Lough Allen basin, with 9.4 trillion cubic feet (270 km3) of gas and 1.5 billion barrels (240,000,000 m3) of oil, valued at €74.4 billion. Already some fields are being exploited, such as the Spanish Point field, with 1.25 trillion cubic feet (35 km3) of gas and 206 million barrels (3.28E+7 m3) of oil, valued at €19.6 billion. The Corrib Basin is also quite large, worth anything up to €87 billion, while the Dunquin gas field contains 25 trillion cubic feet (710 km3) of natural gas and 4.13 billion barrels (657,000,000 m3) of petroleum.[43]

SITTING ON A FORTUNE -EUR5trillion Oil Field Could Defeat Recession but Gloom Grows
Friday, January 30, 2009 4:58 PM
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/art...97336
trackingBy TOM PRENDEVILLE

IRELAND has EUR5.4trillion of oil lying off the west coast, it was revealed yesterday.

The oil reserve is enough to pay off our national debt of EUR60billion almost a hundred times over and banish our recession woes for decades to come.

But contracts with foreign companies are preventing us from selling it and transforming us into the Saudi Arabia of Europe.

The state's lawyers will have to renegotiate with the multinational firms or they will pocket all the profits.

A report by Petroleum Affairs Division of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources stated: "The potential is of at least 10 billion barrels of oil lying off the west coast of Ireland.

"Well data indicate world-class source rocks. Volumetric assessment and expulsion modelling shows volumes of over 130 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of gas."

Most of the Irish oil and gas deposits have been pinpointed along an underwater ridge known as the Atlantic Margin which runs parallel to our western shore.

The Dunquin gas field, which is 200km off the coast of Kerry, contains 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 4,130 million barrels of oil.

This alone would meet our gas needs - at present consumption levels - for the next 62 years.

The Dunquin field is currently being developed by Exxon Mobil, and several other partners. The Spanish Point field, located 200km off the coast of Clare, has known reserves of one and a quarter trillion cubic feet of gas and 206 million barrels of oil.

Further north lies Corrib, Co Mayo, which has an estimated value of anywhere between EUR6billion to EUR50billion.

The field - which has been the scene of much controversy - is being developed by Shell, Marathon and Statoil.

Inland lies the Lough Allen basin, which is valued at EUR75billion and contains 9.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.5 billion barrels of oil.

This vast field lies beneath Lough Allen and the foreshore area surrounding it and straddles counties Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo.

Local farmers who own this land have the potential to become gas millionaires.

But multi-national oil companies are likely to get all the money unless the state re-negotiates exploration contracts.

The firms who are harvesting the Corrib gas fields will only have to pay 25 per cent on the profit and most of this can be written- off against exploration and operating costs.

Although the new rate of tax is 40 per cent this rate only applies to new exploration licenses and does not cover the existing oil and gas finds. Fine Gael spokesman for energy and natural resources Simon Coveney said: "We are desperately in need of money.

"If we get a big find we need to make sure we get a decent return, and when you go above a certain find, a different return.

"There needs to be an incentive there too, because it costs EUR70million any time they do an exploration drill.

"The state cannot afford to do that so we leave it to the private sector. It is a fine balance and we need to be careful we don't drive the exploration companies away."

Senna

Do we not get 12-20% tax from Shells oil finds?
I know the link above says no, but we were getting tax when first negotiated.

Thargor

Dont believe the Fianna Fail controlled media! Head on over to "Indymedia.ie" for all your unbiased needs!

Joey the lips

I have 5 ltrs in my shed. The govt is welcome to it.

dloob

DamoDLK wrote: »

I asked the other chap to prove it (deliberately) He said "they own all the rights"

I'm quite aware of the situation, I do raise an eyebrow over your contract point, which I believe is flippant (purely from a legal point of view)

They bought rights to a explore a small area off Mayo and actually found some gas. They have the rights to extract the gas from that area.
It was cheap because there is almost no Oil or Gas out there and most wells over the years have found nothing at great expense.

More on our lack of oil and gas despite shell to sea fantasies http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0626/1224249574920.html

Cookie_Monster

They also happen to be drilling in dublin bay out by the Kish at the moment / recently.

I was initially under the impression it was for Wind turbines on the Kish bank but apparently its gas

JJJJNR

Why is everyone talking about gas, this thread has an air of ambiguity about it.

kmart6

Agricola wrote: »

We are effectively living hand to mouth when it comes to these resources. Given our size and what are probably half arsed policies from government, its no surprise.

Sorry....but it's the Governments fault that we don't have natural resources!?

Cop the fcuk on!!!

Cool Mo D

dloob wrote: »

They bought rights to a explore a small area off Mayo and actually found some gas. They have the rights to extract the gas from that area.
It was cheap because there is almost no Oil or Gas out there and most wells over the years have found nothing at great expense.

More on our lack of oil and gas despite shell to sea fantasies http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0626/1224249574920.html

They also have to pay a special high rate of corporation tax on the Mayo oil field.

There are about 30 billion cubic metres in the Corrib filed. To give an idea of what that's worth in bulk, during the last argument over prices, Russia wanted to charge Ukraine €180 per 1000 square metre of natural gas - that's about €5.4 billion of gas. Every year the USA produces 600 billion cubic metres, and Russia about 700 billion cubic metres - they are the two worlds biggest producers.

One of the posters above says that there 'may' be 1400 km3 of gas in Irish waters, and that it would be worth trillions of euro. That would be equivalent to €200 billion - hardly trillions - and suffers from the slight problem that no-one has found a fraction of that after 40 years of searching.

stovelid

Gerry Ryan's sebaceous glands must be good until 2015 at least?

brianthebard

medicman2009 wrote: »

Well with the Saps in the Dail, we'll never utilise our natural resources properly. We are an island nation with just one national marine research vessel, that's how forward planning our governments have been over the years. Have a look at the link below it might give a clear answer to the OP.


http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ireland-on-the-verge-of-an-oil-and-gas-bonanza-679889.html

I'm researching Irish newspapers in the 1910s, and people have been calling for development of Irish wave and wind resources since at least that time!

AugustusMinimus

People clearly don't know what they are talking about in regards to Shell and the Corrib Gas field etc.

1. Ireland granted Shell drilling rights for nothing. This was bad. We could have charged them a few hundred million.

2. Shell have to put up the costs for exploritory drilling.

3. The reason we are allowing Shell to drill is that we don't want to pay for the drilling ourselves, in the fear that there may not be any oil out there at all.

4. While we agreed no amount payable per barrell, it doesn't stop the Irish government in anyway taxing oil extraction at any percentage that they want. Corporation Tax for oil extraction at the moment is 25% of profits. It used to be 50%. There is no reason why this can't be raised to 75% if the Irish government wants.

5. Even at 75%, it would still be profitable for Shell (hell even at 99% it would be profitable) hence this is a guaranteed solution. And if you're wondering, this is how Libya makes it's money from oil.


Anyone disagrees, then prove me wrong.

fontanalis

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

People clearly don't know what they are talking about in regards to Shell and the Corrib Gas field etc.

1. Ireland granted Shell drilling rights for nothing. This was bad. We could have charged them a few hundred million.

2. Shell have to put up the costs for exploritory drilling.

3. The reason we are allowing Shell to drill is that we don't want to pay for the drilling ourselves, in the fear that there may not be any oil out there at all.

4. While we agreed no amount payable per barrell, it doesn't stop the Irish government in anyway taxing oil extraction at any percentage that they want. Corporation Tax for oil extraction at the moment is 25% of profits. It used to be 50%. There is no reason why this can't be raised to 75% if the Irish government wants.

5. Even at 75%, it would still be profitable for Shell (hell even at 99% it would be profitable) hence this is a guaranteed solution. And if you're wondering, this is how Libya makes it's money from oil.


Anyone disagrees, then prove me wrong.

I think you are wrong; there is too much sense in there that goes against "the multinationals are bankrupting ireland and paying for Norways healthcare on the back of the irish and ireland could get out of the recession if it wasn't for it" arguement.

dj jarvis

mickdw wrote: »

ok the deal was pretty crap but at that time, we didnt have any money to go searching for oil off the coast. I guess the government figured that the employment & security of supply that any find would provide was payment enough, not to mention the taxes that will be paid on profits made after capital costs have been covered.

the deal was criminal not crappy

we did not need to go drilling for oil or gas , the private company's falling over
each other to get it would have taken the cost of drilling from the mental profits they will get in return
are you telling me that the irish government did not understand that oil/gas is running out and the price is only going up , the world knew this in the 70's
let alone in the early 90's
it was economic treason plain and simple ,
ireland has a track record of making really CRAPPY deals , the oil - lisbon - lisbon II - imf / eu - esat license - eircom shares ...... do you see where this is going ???
again and again the FF gov just rolled over and got rode when it came 2 the future of the irish citizen
and what makes it worse the feckless irish gave approximately 400,000 votes to the FF gangsters on this very day

Will we ever learn ..... unfortunately i doubt it very much :mad:

AugustusMinimus

dj jarvis wrote: »

the deal was criminal not crappy

we did not need to go drilling for oil or gas , the private company's falling over
each other to get it would have taken the cost of drilling from the mental profits they will get in return
are you telling me that the irish government did not understand that oil/gas is running out and the price is only going up , the world knew this in the 70's
let alone in the early 90's
it was economic treason plain and simple ,
ireland has a track record of making really CRAPPY deals , the oil - lisbon - lisbon II - imf / eu - esat license - eircom shares ...... do you see where this is going ???
again and again the FF gov just rolled over and got rode when it came 2 the future of the irish citizen
and what makes it worse the feckless irish gave approximately 400,000 votes to the FF gangsters on this very day

Will we ever learn ..... unfortunately i doubt it very much :mad:

As I've said previously, what's to stop the government from taxing the **** out of future company profits from oil, thereby most of the profits finding their way into state coffers ?

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Here in Mayo we have about €400bn worth in the sea bed, with our taoiseach close to being installed we will soon have secccession and we can become a tyrant state who can supply the rest of this hell hole whilst living the celtic tiger lifestyle that had previously been denied to us cos we were such filthy boggers

dj jarvis

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

As I've said previously, what's to stop the government from taxing the **** out of future company profits from oil, thereby most of the profits finding their way into state coffers ?

but i also pointed out they tend not to do things like that ...they always **** it up , e voting machines - school portacabins - the ppars health system and on and on
yes they can be clever and tax it but lets face it will they ?
our governments do not do well when pressed on by powerful interest groups
and the energy sector press the hardest :eek:

why not make it government policy that ALL oil/gas/gold bla bla belongs to the irish state and can be licened out and taxed at its TRUE worth and not some nominal rate dreamed up by what ever gangster is in power on the day

and i know someone will point out that yes we do already own it .....
but its real funny we own all these resources and yet never benefit as we should

AskMyChocolate

Really interesting thread folks and thanks a million to everyone for all the links. Unusual to find a thread on AH that's both interesting and informative.

Now I suppose I'd better get back to finding out what toaster everyone owns. Time's a wastin'.:pac:

profitius

Has Fine Gael made any changes or are they just a different side to the same coin?

dsmythy

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

People clearly don't know what they are talking about in regards to Shell and the Corrib Gas field etc.

1. Ireland granted Shell drilling rights for nothing. This was bad. We could have charged them a few hundred million.

2. Shell have to put up the costs for exploritory drilling.

3. The reason we are allowing Shell to drill is that we don't want to pay for the drilling ourselves, in the fear that there may not be any oil out there at all.

4. While we agreed no amount payable per barrell, it doesn't stop the Irish government in anyway taxing oil extraction at any percentage that they want. Corporation Tax for oil extraction at the moment is 25% of profits. It used to be 50%. There is no reason why this can't be raised to 75% if the Irish government wants.

5. Even at 75%, it would still be profitable for Shell (hell even at 99% it would be profitable) hence this is a guaranteed solution. And if you're wondering, this is how Libya makes it's money from oil.


Anyone disagrees, then prove me wrong.

So the professional protesters are actually protesting the wrong thing. They should ask for the profits to be taxed harder rather than wasting millions stopping the pipeline. What sort of profits can Shell expect from the drilling? And how much money can the state expect to earn from the current 25% tax rate? How would it compare to the one billion max we could have got from selling the rights?

IvyTheTerrible

The most interesting comment in this thread was the Gerry Ryan sudden death comment...very strange!