Defer Kinsale pipeline decommissioning, says energy company

Moves to close a pipeline from the old Kinsale gasfield should be stalled so it can be used to import shipments of the fuel, one energy business says.

Government energy security proposals include plans to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from specialised ships that cut out the need for onshore terminals.

Mag Mell, a business that hopes to reuse part of the now empty Kinsale field to import LNG using this system, wants the Government to defer decommissioning the reservoir’s pipeline to allow consideration of its plan.

The company plans to import the fuel in specialised vessels, called floating storage regasification units (FSRUs), that turn LNG back to gas so it can be pumped into a supply network.

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It will connect these to the Kinsale pipeline, 50km from the south coast, from where they will provide gas to the Irish network.

However, Paul Griffiths, Mag Mell chief executive, said the Government did not want to back the plan, as it feared LNG shipments would include gas produced from fracking, a controversial form of drilling opposed by environmentalists.

Mr Griffiths said this was despite his company’s pledge to only use gas that has not been fracked.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is due to take ownership of the pipeline from Kinsale Energy as gas production from the field has ceased.

Mag Mell said it was encouraged by the Government’s suggestion in its energy security document that FRSUs could provide an extra source of natural gas imports.

However, the company declared it was “frustrating” that neither Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, nor his officials had engaged with it since it made its original proposal 2½ years ago.

“I would say, based on how we have been treated over the last 2½ years, it means that we will never get a positive engagement from the department or the Minister,” Mr Griffiths argued.

However, he stressed that Mag Mell was prepared to work with the department “on a collaborative basis” for an outcome that he argued would secure energy supplies while the Republic transitioned to a “green grid”.

The company believes the Kinsale pipeline, which comes ashore and connects with the national network in Cork Harbour, could be quickly converted to facilitate FRSUs.

These vessels would operate over the horizon and move from there once they were no longer needed.

Government’s energy security proposals suggest using this system, but does not give any location. The document does not consider plans for an onshore LNG terminal.

A proposal from US group New Fortress to include an LNG terminal in its plans to develop a site in north Co Kerry for energy production has already sparked protests.

Industry and political sources maintain that Mr Ryan, who is also Green Party leader, and his colleagues, fear a backlash from their own voters should the Coalition support the development of an LNG terminal.