Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 372: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the oil and gas reserves estimated to be located off the west coast; the location of the various fields; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8473/09]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Currently, the only commercial field off the west coast is the Corrib gas field, in the Slyne Basin offshore County Mayo, which is estimated to contain approximately one trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

With regard to the Atlantic Margin as a whole, technical studies based on geological and geophysical data, which were sponsored by the then Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources during 2005 and 2006, indicated a hydrocarbon reserve potential in the order of 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent (i.e. oil and or gas). This is an indication of possible reservoirs, which could contain hydrocarbons. It must be stressed that these potential reserves can only be proven by drilling, which is high risk and very costly.

From 1970 to the present, 127 exploration wells and 28 appraisal wells have been drilled offshore Ireland. There have been approximately 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of commercial gas reserves discovered over the past 30 years. This total is comprised of 2 tcf in the Kinsale area fields and approximately 1 tcf in the Corrib field.

The industry estimates that the average cost of drilling a single deep-water exploration well off the west coast of Ireland is between $70 million and $150 million.