ExxonMobil Spurs Irish Ambitions

Energy major ExxonMobil has started a €150 million drilling programme off the south-west coast of Ireland. The US-based multinational is looking for both gas and oil, in exploration that could provide a huge bonus to the cash-starved Irish economy.

The US company is planning to drill test wells over a four-month period at two prospects at the Dunquin licence area in the Porcupine Basin, 200km offshore. Estimates in the past have suggested as much as 8.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in the Dunquin field.

Despite the 200 or so wells drilled off Ireland's shores in the past number of decades, the Irish Independent comments that only two have resulted in commercial fields – Kinsale and Corrib. Both have yielded much less than the estimates for Dunquin. Kinsale had about 1.5 tcf, while Corrib has about one trillion.

Another prospector,  Petrel Resources, holds the licence for an exploration block 35km away from the Dunquin area.

ExxonMobil controls 27.5 percent of the Dunquin prospect, with Italian firm Eni holding another 27.5 percent. Spanish energy firm Repsol owns 25 percent, and Providence Resources, listed in Dublin and London, with 16 percent. UK-based Sosina has the remaining 4 percent.

A 500-metre exclusion zone will be enforced around the rig for the duration of the drilling.