SHANNON LNG, which wants to build a gas terminal in Co Kerry worth hundreds of millions of euro in investment, has taken its fight against paying certain Irish tariffs to the High Court.
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) company, owned by US-based multinational Hess, will challenge the State, the Attorney General and the Commission for Energy Regulation, with an initial judicial review hearing scheduled for tomorrow.
Shannon LNG is disputing a regulatory decision whereby it must help pay for the costs of building the State’s vital gas interconnectors with Britain if it wants to enter the Irish market. All other players in the Irish gas market must do so too. But Shannon LNG will not use the interconnectors, which run from Scotland to Co Meath. Instead, it will import LNG from the US to a facility it plans to build near Tarbert in Co Kerry.
If the case is fast-tracked to the commercial division of the High Court it may be heard next year.
Shannon LNG is likely to argue that the Commission for Energy Regulation’s stance on the tariffs is out of step with EU law.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy said the department could not comment on the matter “in view of the legal process now in train and the fact that Ireland and the Attorney General have been named as respondents in the case”.
Hess has also declined to comment on the case.
