Sir, – The distinct likelihood that Barryroe Offshore Energy, the owners of the Barryroe oil and gas field, will be forced into liquidation in a few weeks is a national catastrophe.
The reason for closing is because the Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, has refused to grant a licence for further evaluation test drilling.
The Barryroe field, just off the coast of Cork, has been independently proven to have more than 300 million barrels of oil as well as copious quantities of high-grade natural gas which, if developed, would afford us backup energy security in conjunction with renewables well into the future.
The company has, over the years, failed to attract investors due mainly to the incoherent and irresponsible attitude of Irish governments, particularly in 2019 when they foolishly stopped issuing oil and gas exploration licences off our coast, and, still today, opposing an LNG facility at Shannon.
These decisions were driven by incomprehensible Green Party ideology, despite the fact that 100 per cent of our oil and over 80 per cent of gas is imported.
Our only native source at Corrib off the Mayo coast is fast dwindling, leaving our future energy security on a knife edge and at the mercy of volatile international markets.
Prolonged and becalmed weather last year and currently has exposed the Coalition’s naive policy of relying on offshore and onshore intermittent wind energy.
It is now generally accepted that over the next two decades, we will have to rely on oil, natural gas and coal as permanent backup to unreliable renewables.
It beggars belief therefore that Coalition strategy favours long-term imports of low-quality fuels from the UK over a proven “sweet” native source at Barryroe.
As we are now again awash with money, we could, and should, even at this late stage, follow Norway’s successful strategy and take equity in the Barryroe field, and in the national interest, support rather than hinder its development to full production in 2026.
This pragmatic strategy, while anathema to the Greens, would provide us with vital national energy security and avoid our exposure to international markets.
It would boost the economy, allow us to cease high-cost imports and, importantly, give us full control over supply and price for decades to come. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LEAHY,
Cork.