Professor Pat Shannon:

I will answer some of the questions on geology and the policies of various countries. I might then address some of the technical issues as well as the question of why we feel this Bill is not appropriate.

Norway is going down the route of continuing to explore for and produce oil and gas, but Sweden is not. This is largely down to geology. The prospectivity in the Swedish area is not deemed to be anything like that in the Norwegian area. That is often the case with individual countries. Many will take a stand and go down this or that route depending on their geology or other resources.

A number of countries have been mentioned. France produces 50% of its total energy, and 75% of its electricity, through nuclear sources. It is relatively easy and does not do much harm to the energy system for France to say that it will not explore for any further oil and gas when its oil and gas prospectivity is not great in any event. There is no oil and gas production in Costa Rica and there have been few, if any, exploration wells. Some 80% of its electricity comes from hydroelectric sources and 14% comes from geothermal energy, accounting for 94% of its electricity. It is easy for Costa Rica to say that it does not need to explore for oil or gas. In New Zealand, 57% of electricity generation comes from hydro power while 13% comes from geothermal sources. It is one of the world's leading countries in terms of geothermal energy and was the second country ever to produce it. It has a significant prospectivity for the production of energy in that regard. As such, it is relatively easy for New Zealand to say it will not explore for anything further.

In many instances, existing resources and geology are factors. I will stick with geology, then go through prospectivity and ideas. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked whether the Celtic Sea had been gone through with a fine-tooth comb. My answer is "No" because ideas and data change. We have new seismic data that cause us to view prospectivity in a different way. This kind of thing has happened in many parts of the world. For example, very little exploration took place in particular parts of the geological column of the North Sea because it was believed at the time that there could be no prospectivity there. In fact, there is significant prospectivity.