National Maritime College of Ireland

Oil Giant Exxon starts $160m Drilling Project off West Coast

Extract from Independent.ie Tuesday April 2^nd

By John Mulligan

“Oil giant ExxonMobil kicks off a $160m-plus (€125m) drilling programme off the west coast of Ireland this weekend with hopes that confirmation of major fossil fuel reserves will transform the country’s economy.

The US company is planning to drill test wells over a four-month period at two prospects at the Dunquin licence area in the Porcupine Basin, 200km off shore.

Previous data has suggested that there could be over 300 million barrels of oil and 8.5 trillion cubic feet of gas between the two Dunquin prospects.

If they could be proven and then extracted, such finds would mark one of the biggest ever global discoveries of oil and gas and be a game-changer for Ireland’s economic fortunes.

Hidden

But despite the 200 or so wells drilled off Ireland’s shores in the past number of decades, only two have resulted in commercial fields – Kinsale and Corrib.

Both are minnows compared to the prospective resources that could be hidden at Dunquin. Kinsale had about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, while Corrib has about one trillion.

Located at a point in the Atlantic where the ocean is 1.6km deep, ExxonMobil’s drilling programme is being eagerly watched by oil companies from abroad and Ireland, including Petrel Resources, which has an exploration block just 35km away from the Dunquin prospect.

ExxonMobil controls 27.5pc of the Dunquin prospect, with Italian firm Eni holding another 27.5pc.

Spanish energy firm Repsol owns 25pc and UK-based Sosina has a 4pc interest. Irish exploration firm Providence Resources has a 16pc interest in the prospect. A major oil or gas find could catapult its shares higher.

The Dunquin prospect – where the reserves are as deep as 3.6km under the seabed – is one of the most important exploration areas for Providence, which is headed by Tony O’Reilly Jnr.

Providence is also betting that it could have a major oil find on its hands at a site called Barryroe, which is close to the Kinsale field. The company reckons that there could be 280 million barrels of recoverable oil at the Barryroe prospect.”

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/oil-giant-exxon-starts-160m-drilling-project-off-west-coast-29163728.html

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Irish Examiner: Maritime College to Train Global Workers

“Shipping and other companies from the Middle East and beyond will be sending more workers for expert training in Cork over the next year.

The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI), part of Cork Institute of Technology, has facilities among the world’s best for training new and experienced workers in the shipping industry.
Among the 72 graduates of NMCI whose awards were conferred yesterday were a number from the Seychelles who have completed marine and plant engineering degrees.
The college opened in 2004 as the country’s first third-level public private partnership, and works closely with the Irish Naval Service whose national base is alongside its Ringaskiddy location.
The commercial arm of the college and associated companies have been offering training since 2010 on the hi-spec equipment, with particular interest from shipping and related companies from the Gulf region.
Further expansion of training and consultancy services to places such as United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Malaysia is planned in the year ahead, in line with more research and commercial training being planned.
“The short specialist courses we run here have been bringing in people from transport in the oil and gas sectors, people in big ports and other related areas,” said CIT’s vice-president for development Michael Delaney.
“We also help train people who will teach their colleagues back at home and offer a certain amount of follow-up training where their companies are located, it could be the Middle East or elsewhere.”
As well as the training jobs in the college on its equipment, which includes a simulator that allows students navigate super-tankers into any port in the world, employment is supported in connected local industry. Cork and Irish companies are developing software and machinery based on the needs of the merchant shipping industry, while training in its use can then be provided at the NMCI or overseas.
There are now 10 full-time research jobs at NMCI, and CIT president  Brendan Murphy told graduates that expanding the research and training roles there are key to the college’s continued success.
The ceremony yesterday also saw masters degrees awarded to 12 graduates of CIT’s Crawford College of Art & Design.”
Picture: At the National Maritime College of Ireland conferrings, Ringaskiddy, Cork, Bachelor of Science in nautical science graduate Jean Paul, from the Seychelles, presents flowers to his girlfriend Melanie Dopplinger, Austria; Pictures: Darragh Kane 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/maritime-college-to-train-global-workers-222759.html

Friday, February 15, 2013

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RTÉ’s George sails down to Leeside

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Offshore Courses Growing in Popularity

Yet again we had a very successful BOSIET course running at the NMCI this week.  This course, along with our MIST, FOET and HUET are run in conjunction with our new joint venture partners SEFtec Global Training Limited.

We are very proud to announce that all of our delegates successfully completed the BOSIET, which is an offshore course that is designed to provide delegates with a basic knowledge of safety and emergency response procedures for working in offshore environments. read more…

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Positive feedback from Kinsale Energy

Delegates from Kinsale Energy Limited attended our OPITO Approved Further Offshore Emergency Training (FOET) this week.   This course is designed to meet further emergency training requirements for oil and gas industry personnel.  Yet again the FOET was a great success and the feedback from the delegates was very encouraging.  read more…

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