Project to Determine Suitability of Site Near Dublin Bay for Carbon and Gas Storage Facility

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Irish oil and gas development company Providence Resources plc (ISE:PRR) (Dublin) announced this week the creation of a 50:50 joint venture with Star Energy Group plc (London), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Malaysian petroleum company Petronas (Kuala Lampur). The joint venture will evaluate the suitability of the Kish Bank, off Dublin Bay in the Irish Sea, for a carbon and gas storage facility.

Star Energy is one of the leading developers of gas storage in the U.K. and has onshore interests in the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy. Providence Resources and Star Energy have been awarded a three-year licensing option in the Kish Bank Basin by Ireland's Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources. It is estimated that the study will take a year to determine the suitability of the location for this purpose.

The Undersea Large-Scale Saline Sequestration and Enhanced Storage (ULYSSES) project will assess the potential of the sandstone reservoirs at the site, located 20 kilometers east of Dublin Bay, for carbon storage. A similar carbon storage project has been in operation in the Norwegian North Sea since 1996. The project is operated by StatoilHydro ASA (NYSE:STO) (Stavanger, Norway) and was designed to offset carbon tax liabilities.

If successful, the ULYSSES project will be the first offshore carbon sequestration project in the U.K. and Ireland and will be seen as an opportunity to reduce Ireland's carbon footprint. It is expected that Providence Resources and Star Energy will approach electricity producers about investment if the project proves viable.

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