Setback for Shell's Irish Gas Field

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Shell's €2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) Corrib gas pipeline project off the west coast of Ireland has run into more serious setbacks following the quashing of a licence issued for the Bellanaboy Bridge gas terminal in County Mayo.

Ireland's Commercial Court has revoked a revised licence that was issued to Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) subsidiary, Shell E & P Ireland (SEPIL), by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last June. The court supported local resident, Martin Harrington, who called for the licence to be quashed due to defects in how the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out. The Environmental Protection Agency did not contest the claim.

The licence had permitted the operation of a gas refinery and combustion installations, with a thermal capacity of 50-megawatts (MW) or greater, at Bellanaboy Bridge gas terminal. Shell said that construction of the terminal is almost finished and that the revised licence meant that commissioning of the terminal gas infrastructure could start in April 2014. According to Shell, at peak production Corrib Gas is capable of meeting up to 60% of the Ireland's gas needs and will be able to provide a secure supply for up to 20 years.

The setback in the latest in a series of problems dogging the Corrib gas pipeline project for over a decade, which has been highly controversial with local residents. Most of the problems have related to where the pipeline, which runs 83 kilometers (km) from the medium-sized field off the coast of Mayo, comes ashore and connects to the processing terminal 9km inland.

"Shell E&P Ireland Limited (SEPIL) notes that in the commercial court today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has conceded the case brought by Mr Martin Harrington," Shell stated following the court ruling. "The legal challenge related to the process followed by the EPA during their determination of a review application of an IPPC Licence granted to SEPIL in 2007. The review application was for minor changes to the licensed activity, namely the operation of the Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal in Co Mayo. Today's developments in court will be examined by SEPIL and following consultation with the relevant bodies, SEPIL fully anticipates that the required licences will be in place for First Gas."

The Corrib Field was discovered in 1996 by Enterprise Oil which established Enterprise Energy Ireland Limited to bring the Corrib field to production. Enterprise Oil was acquired by the Shell group in 2002 and renamed Shell E&P Ireland Limited. The Corrib Gas Partners are Shell E&P Ireland Limited (45% - Operator), Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Limited (36.5%) and Vermilion Energy (18.5%).

Construction of the onshore pipeline, which includes a tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay is now well under way. The laying of the offshore umbilical between the landfall at Glengad and the Corrib subsea manifold was completed this summer.

View Plant Profile - 3077042

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.