Page 8 - EurOil Week 16 2022

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

Irish government to reconsider

stance on LNG

Ireland’s government appears to be changing its tune with regards to LNG imports

IRELAND IRELAND has followed other European nations published on April 13, the Irish government said
in announcing a new strategy to bolster energy it wanted to provide “an overarching and com-
WHAT: security in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine prehensive response to Ireland’s energy security
Ireland will consider and soaring energy prices globally. But while the needs in the context of the war in Ukraine.”
supporting LNG government said in the strategy it might recon- “While the supply of natural gas required to
terminals. sider its opposition to building LNG import ter- meet Ireland’s energy needs has not, to date, been
minals, there were no hints that it could reverse impacted by the war in Ukraine, there are secu-
WHY: its position against domestic gas exploration. rity of supply risks,” the government explained
Energy security has been The Irish government, comprising the in the framework. “Ireland’s high dependence on
brought to the forefront right-leaning Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties imports from a single source in the UK, along
of the government’s and the Greens, has shunned the development with the high and growing reliance of the elec-
attention. of LNG import terminals, leaving the fate of tricity system on natural gas supplies, has neces-
projects such as New Fortress Energy (NFE)’s sitated a review of security of supply.”
WHAT NEXT: Shannon LNG up in the air. It also banned new The review will be undertaken by the depart-
The government is licences for natural gas exploration last year, fol- ment of the environment, climate and commu-
undertaking a review, lowing a move by the previous Fine Gael admin- nications. It “is considering the risks to both
which could conclude istration against oil licences in 2019. natural gas and electricity supplies, and a range
that LNG import terminals However, the spike in energy costs over the of measures, including the need for additional
are the answer to past year, coupled with Europe’s concerted push capacity to import energy (such as LNG).” The
Ireland’s energy security. to end reliance on Russian gas and the risk that review will also focus on energy storage, fuel
Moscow might pull the plug on supplies in the diversification and renewable gases such as
near term, has prompted many European gov- hydrogen. It is due to finish by the third quarter
ernments to reassess their opposition to new of this year.
natural gas projects. There are two LNG projects under considera-
Ireland is striving to make its power gener- tion in Ireland, although neither has made much
ation 100% renewables-based by the end of the progress for some time. Besides NFE’s Shannon
decade, but for the time being, natural gas still LNG, a floating import project has been pro-
commands a sizable share of the mix. It accounts posed by UK-listed Predator Oil and Gas. A
for over a third of the country’s primary energy third project in the country’s south was set to
mix, and three-quarters of supply is sourced be advanced by NextDecade, receiving supplies
from a single pipeline that runs from the UK. from the US company’s Rio Grande LNG devel-
The rest comes from the Corrib field off the opment in Texas. But NextDecade has given up
west coast of Ireland, although production is in on the venture.
decline and the deposit is predicted to reach full A lot of the opposition to LNG imports
depletion in 2031, or possibly sooner. relates to concerns about bringing ashore shale,
In its National Energy Security Framework or “fracked” gas, as Dublin has called it, given

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 22•April•2022