Page 16 - GLNG Week 16 2022

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Irish government to reconsider

stance on LNG

POLICY IRELAND has followed other European nations consideration in Ireland, although neither has
in announcing a new strategy to bolster energy made much progress for some time. Besides
security in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine NFE’s Shannon LNG, a floating import project
and soaring energy prices globally. But while the has been proposed by UK-listed Predator Oil
government said in the strategy it might recon- and Gas. A third project in the country’s south
sider its opposition to building LNG import ter- was set to be advanced by NextDecade, receiv-
minals, there were no hints that it could reverse ing supplies from the US company’s Rio Grande
its position against domestic gas exploration. LNG development in Texas. But NextDecade has
The Irish government, comprising the given up on the venture.
right-leaning Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties A lot of the opposition to LNG imports relates
and the Greens, has shunned the development to concerns about bringing ashore shale, or
of LNG import terminals, leaving the fate of “fracked” gas, as Dublin has called it, given that
projects such as New Fortress Energy (NFE)’s the US is best placed to serve as the main sup-
Shannon LNG up in the air. It also banned new plier of LNG to Ireland. However, supporters of
licences for natural gas exploration last year, fol- LNG imports note that Ireland already indirectly
lowing a move by the previous Fine Gael admin- imports some shale gas that has been imported
istration against oil licences in 2019. as LNG in the UK.
However, the spike in energy costs over the The government’s reconsideration of LNG
past year, coupled with Europe’s concerted push comes after chair of Ireland’s Commission for
to end reliance on Russian gas and the risk that the Regulation of Utilities, Aoife MacEvilly,
Moscow might pull the plug on supplies in the made the case for importing the super-cooled
near term, has prompted many European gov- fuel at the end of March. Speaking to local press,
ernments to reassess their opposition to new she said that developing LNG facilities did not
natural gas projects. lock Ireland into fossil fuel use for longer, as
Ireland is striving to make its power gener- those facilities could be adapted at a later stage to
ation 100% renewables-based by the end of the import green hydrogen instead.
decade, but for the time being, natural gas still MacEvilly pointed to recent shortfalls in wind
commands a sizable share of the mix. It accounts power generation. On March 29, she noted, Ire-
for over a third of the country’s primary energy land’s 5,000-MW of wind power capacity actu-
mix, and three-quarters of supply is sourced ally delivered only 19 MW because it was a calm
from a single pipeline that runs from the UK. day. As a result, gas and coal plants were provid-
The rest comes from the Corrib field off the ing the majority of power. Decarbonisation is
west coast of Ireland, although production is critical but gas needs to serve as a back-up when
in decline and the deposit is predicted to reach renewables output is low, she said.
full depletion in 2031, or possibly sooner. In its However, the government could still conclude
National Energy Security Framework published that LNG is unacceptable. Ireland’s Minister for
on April 13, the Irish government said it wanted the Environment Eamon Ryan as recently as ear-
to provide “an overarching and comprehensive lier this month declared that LNG would not be
response to Ireland’s energy security needs in the “Ireland’s great saviour.” Ryan notably intervened
context of the war in Ukraine.” directly in the planning application for Shannon
“While the supply of natural gas required to LNG in January, telling local authorities in Kerry
meet Ireland’s energy needs has not, to date, been that the project should not be permitted “under
impacted by the war in Ukraine, there are secu- any circumstances.”
rity of supply risks,” the government explained Ryan is a member of the Greens, which are
in the framework. “Ireland’s high dependence on urging the government not to reverse course
imports from a single source in the UK, along on LNG. After all, it was the Greens that fought
with the high and growing reliance of the elec- hard to get a commitment in the programme
tricity system on natural gas supplies, has neces- for the coalition government that states: “As
sitated a review of security of supply.” Ireland moves towards carbon neutrality, we do
The review will be undertaken by the depart- not believe that it makes sense to develop LNG
ment of the environment, climate and communi- gas import terminals importing fracked gas.”
cations. It “is considering the risks to both natural They also succeeded in getting Shannon LNG
gas and electricity supplies, and a range of meas- removed from the EU’s Projects of Common
ures, including the need for additional capacity Interest (PCI) list. So while Fianna Fail and Fine
to import energy (such as LNG).” The review will Gael are now looking more favourably at LNG,
also focus on energy storage, fuel diversification they may be reluctant to support it fully, through
and renewable gases such as hydrogen. It is due fear that a row with the Greens could cause the
to finish by the third quarter of this year. coalition to collapse. Relations between the par-
There are two LNG projects under ties have already been very strained at times.™

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