The gas find 35 miles off the Mayo coast at Achill announced last week by Enterprise Oil is good news indeed for the national economy as well as for the commercial interests involved. While it is right to be cautious, given the chequered history of oil and gas exploration in Ireland over recent decades, the information so far available indicates that the area is rich in gas and could perhaps supply up to half of the Irish market's rapidly growing needs. If it is confirmed to be commercial by development feasibility studies the implications for national energy and regional policies are profound. The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, has pointed out that the Kinsale/Ballycotton gas field has supplied 20 per cent of the State's needs in the last 20 years and saved an estimated three billion pounds in energy import bills.
The managing director of Enterprise Oil, Mr John McGoldrick, has made much of prospects for the find. The location of the field has been known about for some years and seismic studies and drilling have taken a long time. Enterprise Oil has estimated the cost of bringing the gas ashore at some hundreds of millions of pounds (it is not clear whether this figure includes a pipeline) and it is currently involved in drilling a third well. The company, in business with Marathon, Saga Petroleum and Statoil, may have to raise money on the stock exchange to fund such a project. The hardest official comment it has made so far is that the find "is almost certainly commercial". Equally important may be the negotiations it is conducting with Bord Gais about the provision of a land pipeline to take the gas to Dublin, where the main market is. Bord Gais is in discussions with a number of other exploration companies working off the West coast about the possibility of sharing costs for such a pipeline.
Timing is crucial. In this regard, the shape of the next National Plan will be important for the West of Ireland. Any gas will not come ashore before 2003, and will fall to be dealt with within the next tranche of EU regional and structural funding. Details of the six-year plan will be agreed over the next few months. If it does not include costs for a pipeline, under the heading of regional development, then it is unlikely the West will benefit to any great extent from the gas find. If the gas is brought ashore in Achill, or at Newport/Westport, then Castlebar and other towns to the east would hope to benefit. In the same way, Ballina would hope to benefit from any spur line going to the growth areas of Sligo or Letterkenny. Killybegs in Donegal would also hope to benefit as a service port.
In commercial terms, the gas find could bring huge benefits to the West, but it will not happen unless an expensive distribution system is put in place. As things stand, two new gas electricity generating stations are being planned for the Dublin region and they could take a big proportion of the energy on offer. Fortuitously, the find comes just as the Government is preparing final details of the National Plan. It is essential that the State optimises the national opportunities and interests involved as well as facilitating potential commercial exploitation of the gas field.