Cantillon: One-way interconnector points to scepticism over prospects for Irish gas exploration

The Government wants to encourage oil and gas exploration in the Republic’s territorial waters, but it looks like previous administrations did not have much faith in the prospect of anyone finding more commercial quantities of natural gas there.

In 1993 and 2003, two Fianna Fáil-led governments approved the development, at a total cost of €600 million, of two interconnectors linking Ireland’s natural gas network with Britain’s to allow imports of the fuel to meet rising demand that was outstripping supplies. It appears little thought was given to the idea that gas might one day flow in the other direction. So the pipelines are configured to allow it to run from Britain to Ireland only.

In 1993, when the first was built, the North Sea was booming while it was clear that the Republic’s field, Kinsale, then owned by Marathon, was literally running out of gas.

However, exploration was continuing in that area and elsewhere.

When the issue was revisited in 1998, the Corrib Field had been discovered and confirmed as commercial. When the decision to go ahead with the second pipe was made in 2001, the time when commercial gas would flow from Corrib appeared closer and the controversy that dogged the project had yet to blow up.

There may not have been a particularly pressing case for developing a two-way interconnector, but it was arguably short-sighted not to give it more consideration, especially as it subsequently turned out that EU law required interconnectors between member states to allow for two-way flow.

The politicians who made the decision could point to the fact that an assessment in 2011 found that Britain was well supplied and would not need to import gas from the Republic. A further review this year may find that this remains the case.

If it does, will this have ramifications for anyone looking at hydrocarbon exploration in the Republic’s waters?