In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day 2018, we thought it would be fun to talk about Ireland’s oil and gas industry. For years, Ireland has been known as the home of beautiful green landscapes, the blarney stone, Guinness, and of course, Celtic art, music and literature. Ireland isn’t exactly known for it’s contribution to the oil and gas industry, but the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment (DCCAE) of Ireland outlines their complete oil and gas industry history on their website. We’ve grabbed a few of the more important pieces of information that you’ll find below, but feel free to visit their website for all the history and more details on mineral exploration & mining, exploration and production licensing/data, and the Corrib Gas Field.
The DCCAE explains, “Petroleum exploration activity in Ireland began in 1960 with the acquisition of seismic data onshore Ireland by Ambassador Irish Oil Company who subsequently drilled six wells onshore Ireland during 1962 and 1963. The first well was drilled near Trim in Co. Meath during August and September in 1962. The results were disappointing however gas did flow from a well drilled near Dowra, Co. Cavan in uncommercial quantities.
“In 1996 the Corrib Gas Field was discovered of the coast of Mayo by Enterprise Oil and was declared commercial in 2001. The field, which is operated by Shell E&P Ireland Ltd came into production at the end of 2015. There have been no commercial discoveries of oil to date.
“Over the past few years there has been an upswing in the exploration momentum offshore Ireland as reflected by the number of exploration authorisations, which is currently at its highest ever level. However, Ireland still remains underexplored. A total of just under 160 exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled offshore since 1971. This is a very small number when compared to countries like UK and Norway and highlights the underexplored nature of our offshore.”
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