Sir, – Fintan O’Toole knows very well, from previous correspondence, that the “official estimate” of our oil and gas reserves is qualified by the words “yet-to-find” and “potential” (Opinion, August 16th). He knows that you are at least five times more likely to make a commercial discovery offshore Norway than offshore Ireland, that the Norwegian government refunds 78 per cent of the cost of an unsuccessful well, and that Ireland’s fiscal terms are comparable to the regimes in other Atlantic margin countries with low success rates, such as France, Spain and Portugal.
He knows that the industry has been exploring offshore Ireland since 1975 with only one significant discovery, which has yet, after 15 years, to come into production. Yet he continues to write half- truths and innuendo, such as that we are “giving away all of this potentially vast wealth for next to nothing”.
Mr O’Toole would be better employed investigating why of the 17 members of our association in 1985, only four remain; or why the recent Licensing Round, admittedly an improvement, attracted only 15 applications, compared to 350 in a recent round in the UK; why only 3 per cent of the Irish offshore area is under licence; and why all of the eight licences issued in 1995 have been handed back to the government.
He would do well to quote from another departmental report, which calculates that a “giant” oil field off the west coast would pay, over its lifetime, some €16 billion in tax or that a medium-sized field would pay around €6 billion. He should also familiarise himself with the Indecon Review of Licensing Terms, 2008, which was broadly accepted and implemented by then minister for energy and natural resources Eamon Ryan.
Nevertheless, there are aspects of Mr O’Toole’s article that we would agree with. He is correct in describing offshore exploration as “long, laborious and extremely expensive” and one has to admire his “savage indignation”. However, facts and balance have their place as well.
The oil and gas industry has the “potential” to deliver huge tax revenues, significant employment, particularly in the west, and security of energy supply. Let’s just get on with realising that potential. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole, (Opinion, August 16th) dealing with Ireland’s oil and gas reserves, highlights one embarrassing fact. Surely we can surpass the Republic of Cameroon in our generosity towards our multinational oil company friends? Could we not ingratiate ourselves further with them by waiting a couple of years, until oil prices reach, say $250 a barrel, before giving ours away? – Yours, etc,