National Maritime College of Ireland

Contract to Assess Oil Potential

From The Irish Examiner – By Geoff Percival

The Government is set to announce details of a major research contract to assess Ireland’s true oil and gas potential in the coming weeks, with industry rumours suggesting Italian giant Eni could be signed up as project partner.

The project will focus on a seismic survey off the west coast, to judge the oil and gas reserve potential of the under-explored Atlantic Margin area.

While the provision of “relevant depth of seismic data”, formed part of the recommendations from last week’s Providence Resources/PwC study into the potential of the Irish offshore sector, this seismic tender has been in the Government’s plans for nearly a year.

There has been speculation that Eni could be signing up to invest around €70m in carrying out the study, but the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has been tight- lipped over the details.

A department spokesperson said that the procurement process has concluded and project planning is at an “advanced stage”. “It is anticipated that an announcement will be made shortly,” they added.

Minister of State at the Department, Fergus O’Dowd, first announced the intention to tender for a seismic data specialist to undertake the detailed survey last year, when addressing the Atlantic Ireland Conference in Dublin.

Speaking then, he said that such a survey would be “a huge step forward” and would go a long way to revealing the true potential of Ireland’s frontier basins.

The real genesis of the programme was the Government’s 2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round, which attracted a positive response from industry but still resulted in large areas on offer receiving no applications, despite being located in basins containing proven petroleum systems.

A lack of available seismic data was viewed as a significant contributing factor that needed to be addressed, according to Government. The small number of exploration wells drilled in Irish waters, over the past decade, has been blamed on low levels of available intelligence, with poor seismic data coverage previously described by Government as “the biggest impediment to exploration”.

Last week’s PwC study into the potential of Ireland’s offshore exploration industry suggested that thousands of jobs could be created per year and the Exchequer could significantly increase its annual corporate tax take if certain existing barriers to entry, for overseas players, are removed.

“The oil and gas industry has the potential to transform local and national economies, but a critical mass of activity is needed before a substantial indigenous supply base can develop,” it said.

Extract From http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/contract-to-assess-oil-potential-231055.html

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‘Several hundred million barrels’ of oil may lie in new Petrel site off Kerry

Tuesday 04/04/2013

“AN EXPLORATION COMPANY with rights to explore an area off the west coast of Co Kerry claims the field has shown the potential to hold hundreds of millions of barrels worth of oil.

Petrel Resources says the site in ‘Quad 45′, about 100 kilometres to the west of Valentia Island, has “the capability to hold several hundred million barrels of in-place oil”.

The site was authorised for exploration in 2011, when 13 various sites in the Porcupine Basin off the west coast were offered for new ventures.

Petrel was offered two of those sites; the other site in ‘Quad 35′, about 120 kilometres west of the Dingle peninsula, showed the capability of hosting in excess of a billion barrels of oil.

Quad 45 lies about 35 kilometres northeast of an area in the Dunquin prospect, which is already the focus of a major prospective drilling operation from a consortium led by Exxon Mobil.

Petrel said it had purchased additional seismic data of the area and has carried out further regional seismic mapping.

“We have long believed that the offshore Porcupine Basin is a hydrocarbon province,” Petrel managing director David Horgan said in a media release.

“This has been further supported by our recent work in identifying potential prospects on both of our blocks.

“We look forward to increased activities across the Basin which we believe has the potential to be a major new oil province. We have commenced our search for potential partners.”

Shares in Petrel rose by over 10 per cent in early trading in London this morning.”

Extract from thejournal.ie

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/oil-porcupine-basin-kerry-petrel-853171-Apr2013/

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SEFtec NMCI Offshore to attend Renewable UK Conference

SEFtec NMCI Offshore will be celebrating their membership to RenewableUK by attending the Offshore Wind Energy conference in Liverpool on the 29^th-30^th of June 2011.

SEFtec NMCI Offshore is very proud to be members of RenewableUK, which is the UK’s leading renewable energy trade association, specialising in the wind, wave and tidal stream energy industries. read more…

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Maritime Open Day proves huge success at NMCI

We had our annual Maritime Open Day on the 3rd of November 2010 which is a great opportunity for prospective students to have a look at the wonderful maritime facilities we have on offer at the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI).

This year’s event was a massive success with over 400 students and parents from all over Ireland getting the chance to see our world class facilities. The students were literally blown away with our demonstration on sea survival in our 20m x 8m indoor pool. read more…

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