Where will Ireland's newest and first independent power station be located? It could be Cork, perhaps Dublin, maybe on the west coast. But it's going to happen.
Now that the ESB's monopoly is to be broken under EU legislation, companies like Marathon are beginning to look at this country with a new interest. Marathon has been operating in Ireland since 1961.
While the other "majors" have come and gone at different stages, Marathon has remained for the long haul, and now, the company is seeking to broaden its horizons.
Since beginning on-shore and off-shore exploration here, Marathon has spent an estimated $1 billion. The quest for natural energy sources began with the drilling of six on-shore wells - four in the Republic and two in Northern Ireland. The company quickly concluded that the prospects for land-based resources were not good and decided to go off-shore.
The first well off the Cork coast was drilled in 1970, with the second and third in 1971. The third well resulted in the discovery of the Kinsale natural gas field.
Exploration is a hit-and-miss business and this was illustrated when the first well drilled off the Cork coast missed the field by 200 yards. But seismic studies had given the company a good feeling about the area and in the word's of Mr Duane Deines, Marathon's president in Ireland, "we had a hit". The original intention was to sell the gas to the ESB's Aghada power station as well as to NET - now Irish Fertilizer Industries.
The discovery of the Kinsale field and, subsequently, the nearby Ballycotton one, has had a profound effect on the Irish economy. For one, it led to the revitalisation of the Irish town gas industry which had fallen into disrepair.
Before the Kinsale gas field came on stream, the industry had few prospects and a bleak future. But when the natural gas pipeline from Cork to Dublin was put in place, the opportunity arose to give new life to the town gas industries in Limerick, Waterford, Carlow and Kilkenny, by running spur lines off the main pipe. The gas is delivered to Bord Gais Eireann (BGE) at Inch in Cork Harbour.
When it comes ashore it is virtually free of pollutants, but as a safety measure it is odourised to alert domestic users in the event of a leak.
Up to last year, Marathon had drilled more than 130 exploration wells. After the Kinsale find, the company reached agreement with BGE to drill a further five wells in 1988.
The disagreement between Marathon and BGE over the price being paid for the gas was settled and, the following year, the smaller Ballycotton field was discovered. It was brought on line on July 4th, 1991, to coincide with the American national holiday. Both fields are now being produced in tandem through the Alpha and Bravo rigs in a water depth of up to 300 feet. The two fields supply 16 per cent of Ireland's energy needs.
For Cork, there has been a major local spin-off with the development of a significant service and supply industry to keep the rigs operating around the clock. This includes catering as well as helicopters to bring the crews to and from the rigs. The company claims that more than 2,000 downstream jobs have been created.
Projections suggest the two fields will run out by the year 2003, although that time frame could be extended. The area in which the discoveries were made has been well explored, but Marathon intends to continue drilling satellite wells in the vicinity of the known deposits.
In 1995, Marathon discovered further gas deposits in the south-western Kinsale field and, instead of bringing the field into production, it was decided to develop it as a storage facility.
Discussions with BGE on the project have been progressing well. The result will be a prolongation of the existing fields.
The reserves in the new field could be as high as 60 billion cubic feet and tests have shown they are independent of the other fields. The project is an important development for Marathon and for the State. The cost of developing the facility may run to $100 million.
Marathon believes the reserve could supply all of Ireland's town gas needs for up to three months. The new storage facility is expected to be brought on line in 1999 if agreement is reached with BGE.
And there are hopes for more new deposits. In the 1980s, Marathon discovered gas and oil shows in the Seven Heads area off the south coast. The find was not considered commercial and the exploration licence was relinquished. The acreage is due to become available again in the near future and, when it does, Marathon will return to the area. In the meantime, the company has decided to explore off the west coast.
On July 22nd last, the company commenced drilling in the Porcupine Basin using a high-tech rig - the Jack Bates - which can drill to immense depths. The company is confident there is oil in the area - what must be established is whether the sub-seabed sand structures are capable of trapping the oil so as to allow it to be recovered commercially.
Marathon, ranked 9th in the league of the top 10 American oil companies, has some 20,468 employees worldwide. It had revenues of $16.3 billion in 1996 and assets of $10.2 billion. These figures are verified by the American publication, Fortune Magazine.
Marathon has added the Marathon Power Company to its line of business. This division of the company, which in turn is part of the giant USX Corporation in the US, is looking for new opportunities and its strategists believe Ireland is one of them. The reason for this is that by the year 2000, 28 per cent of the ESB's business will be up for grabs.
By 2004, the figure will be 34 per cent. The liberalisation of the electricity generating business in Ireland brings potential advantages for Marathon's new arm. The cost of building a new power plant? Two hundred million, according to Marathon. And where would it be sited? If the Procupine Basin proved fruitful, it could be somewhere on the west coast. Ideally, says Mr Deines, the plant should be as close as possible to the raw energy source.
There is, however, something about the prospect of a massive infrastructural investment coming to the western seaboard and bringing with it a new prosperity to a region that has not always been a beneficiary when the national spoils were being dished out.
Last July, six of the major oil and gas exploration companies, including Marathon, commissioned a study to appraise the environmental status of the south-west coast.
It recognised the devastating effect of past oil spills, particularly in Bantry Bay, and warned of a more insidious form of pollution, such as unacknowledged spills, leading to tar balls on our beaches and damaged bird life. Anti-fouling agent, used on pleasure craft, etc, was a further hazard, the report said, as was the removal of sand from beaches.
Noting that 23 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises have been observed in the waters of the south-west coast, the report observed that the south-western waters were relatively unpolluted. The report covered an area from Mizen Head in Co Cork to Loop Head in Co Clare, and was delivered at no cost to interested groups, as well as educational institutions.