Oil's well but no sign of Dallas fever in Cork

The announcement that the Barryroe oil field off the Cork coast is commercially viable has been welcomed, but nobody is counting their barrels just yet

‘WE ALREADY HAVE the southern accents, but we will probably have to get 10-gallon Stetsons to prove we’re real oilmen,” quipped one wag to another on Cork’s South Mall this week as news broke that oil had been found off the Cork coast.

Not that anyone was rushing around the streets of the city predicting that Leeside was set to become another Dallas after Providence Resources announced test results on the Barryroe oil field had confirmed it was commercially viable.

True, the Evening Echo did herald the news with a front-page splash under the headline, “Oil Right Boy!”, but nobody on Leeside is swotting up on the intricacies of Brent crude to impress their friends just yet.

Indeed, the response has been, if not muted, then certainly measured from all sides of the political and environmental divides involved in debating such matters – a reflection perhaps of the recognition that oil may well help us out of our economic.

Cllr John O’Sullivan of Fine Gael, who lives in and represents the coastal parish of Barryroe between Kinsale and Clonakilty, says: “I suppose people in Barryroe aren’t really expecting any great local spin-off in that it’s 50km off shore and the expectation is that the oil will be piped to Whitegate and the rig serviced by helicopters from Cork Airport, so there won’t be much benefit for the local area.

“At the same time, it’s good news for the Cork economy and the Irish economy and people obviously welcome that.

“There have been four or five wells drilled over the past 20 years and every time it seemed that we were on the cusp of a major discovery, it fell through.

“I wouldn’t say people were sceptical after news broke over the last few months about oil being found, but they just wanted to wait and see what materialised in terms of commercial viability given previous experiences and now that looks very positive.”

Esso had drilled three wells in the field in the 1970s and Marathon had drilled another one there in the 1990s, but none had proven commercially viable. However, rising oil prices and advances in technology have changed all that for Providence Resources.

According to Tony O’Reilly, the chief executive of Providence, flow rates of 3,514 barrels of oil a day have been confirmed at the Barryroe field, almost double the the company’s stated target rate of 1,800 barrels a day, which would make the 100-metre deep site commercially viable.

“The well has also confirmed that the basal sands are laterally continuous, highly productive and that the oils are of a very high quality,” said O’Reilly in a statement, while Providence technical director John O’Sullivan predicted flows could reach 20,000 barrels a day.

The news has been welcomed by Cork Chamber whose chief executive Conor Healy points to the advantages of the oil being brought ashore in Cork and the benefits it could create for the local economy.

“Clearly, it’s early days yet and we look forward to understanding more about the field’s potential – obviously it has national significance for Ireland but it also offers great promise in terms of additional economic activity for Cork too.

“Cork has a long track record of infrastructure provision for energy-related projects such as the Whitegate oil refinery, while we also have a workforce with engineering and project management experience from the pharmaceutical sector going back 20 years.”

THAT EXISTENCE OF of infrastructure also informs the views of former Green Party TD and senator, Dan Boyle, when he suggests that Cork may not find itself embroiled in the sort of controversy that Mayo has experienced when it comes to bringing the oil ashore.

“Obviously it’s an economic fillip for Ireland and one that we badly need. We are entering the era of peak oil and oil will run out, but we might as well take advantage of this discovery while we can,” he says.

“We have some advantages in Cork in terms of existing infrastructure. We already have the Kinsale gas pipeline and an oil refinery in Cork Harbour, so we should not experience the sort of difficulties that other places have in terms of setting up new infrastructure.”

Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment says: “I would expect that the infrastructure is already there – I wouldn’t like to be facing into another major refinery or development along the coast, but I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.”

However, he stressed that there remained the possibility of environmental damage and it was important government agencies ensured proper regulatory standards are maintained.

It could take up to three years before the oil starts coming ashore, but rather than thinking Dallas, Corkonians might be better advised to look north to Scotland where Aberdeen underwent huge economic development on the back of North Sea oil.