Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1316. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost of extracting oil from Irish marine waters that his Department is using as a basis for the national energy projections. [1813/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1329. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost of extracting oil from the Kish basin and the Porcupine basin. [1826/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1330. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which oil deposits from the Kish basin will be processed, if onshore or offshore; and the details of his discussions with the industry, including a company (details supplied) on this matter. [1827/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1316, 1329 and 1330 together.

There have been no commercial discoveries of oil to date in the Irish offshore.

Any estimation of the cost of extracting oil from a particular location in the Irish offshore would depend on consideration of a wide range of variables including the size of the discovery, the nature of the oil found, water depth, distance from where it could be refined, development technology options and prevailing development & operating costs.

In 2009, the Irish Shelf Petroleum Studies Group of the Petroleum Infrastructure Programme undertook a Cost Effective Field Development Study for Atlantic Basins which modelled a number of oil and gas discovery development scenarios. The scenarios were evaluated at three oil price cases: $50, $75 and $100 per bbl together with three beach gas price cases: $5.50, $8 and $10.50 MMBTU. It should noted that this study was based on the 2007 Fiscal Terms and therefore did not utilise the revised 2014 fiscal terms introduced in the Finance Act 2015.

Only four wells have been drilled in the Kish Bank Basin, none of which discovered commercially recoverable hydrocarbons. All four wells were plugged and abandoned as dry holes.

Providence Resources plc holds Standard Exploration Licence 2/11 located in the Kish Bank Basin. No well has been drilled to date on this Licence and as such it too early to anticipate a discovery that might lead to a commercial development.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1317. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation including particular fields have been afforded the status of national strategic importance; and the reasons for designating or not designating the sector as such. [1814/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 provides for the making directly to An Bord Pleanála rather than to local authorities of applications for planning permission in respect of certain proposed developments of strategic importance to the State. This encompasses certain elements of a petroleum development as set out hereunder.

Where a person intends to carry out a strategic gas infrastructure development they prepare an application for approval of the development under section 182D as inserted in the Planning and Development Act 2000, and an environmental impact statement in respect of the development, and apply to An Bord Pleanála for approval. Strategic gas infrastructure development is defined as any proposed development comprising or for the purposes of a strategic downstream gas pipeline or a strategic upstream gas pipeline, and associated terminals, buildings and installations, whether above or below ground, including any associated discharge pipe.

The Act also provides that an application for permission to be considered by An Bord Pleanála and not a local authority can be made in respect of the following projects:

- an installation for the onshore extraction of petroleum or natural gas;

- an oil pipeline and any associated terminals, buildings and installations, where the length of the pipeline, whether as originally provided or as extended, would exceed 20 kilometres.

In 2010, An Bord Pleanála gave approval under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act for the construction of the onshore Corrib Gas Pipeline.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1318. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated yield from oil and gas deposits by barrel and price; and the likelihood of finding deposits in each field in terms of a ratio, for example, 30 to 1 chance and so on. [1815/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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To date one hundred and sixty exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled in the Irish Offshore and have resulted in four commercial gas discoveries (Kinsale Head, Ballycotton, Seven Heads, in the Kinsale area, and Corrib gas fields) but no commercial oil discoveries. Proven reserves for these gas fields total approximately three trillion cubic feet, comprising approximately two trillion cubic feet in the Kinsale Area gas fields and approximately one trillion cubic feet at the Corrib gas field.

While petroleum authorisation holders may generate their own resource estimates for their prospects, these are unproven volumes and are only an estimate of what might be present, based on the available geological and geophysical data. The only way to accurately estimate the yield for each prospect is by drilling wells to determine firstly, if hydrocarbons are present and secondly, to calculate the volumes of hydrocarbons contained in each prospect. Most of the prospects contained in currently licensed acreage are undrilled.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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1319. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which Ireland’s EU and UN commitments to mitigate climate change are considered as part of his Department’s efforts to promote exploitation of offshore hydrocarbon resources, including the commitment under the Paris Agreement to engage in global efforts to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1816/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Paris Agreement aims to limit global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with an ambition of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Agreement is designed to meet this objective through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by all parties to the agreement. In this regard, the European Union submitted an NDC committing to a reduction of at least 40% in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, which will be met through reductions of 43% in the Emission Trading System (ETS) and 30% in the non-ETS sector compared with 2005 levels.

Ireland will contribute to the Paris Agreement via the NDC tabled by the EU on behalf of its Member States. The specific details of Ireland's contribution are currently being finalised between the EU and its Member States.

The Energy White Paper “Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future 2015-2030” sets out a vision and framework to guide Irish energy policy and the actions that Government intends to take in the energy sector from now up to 2030, aimed at transforming Ireland's fossil-fuel based energy sector into a clean, low carbon system by 2050. This ambitious vision for Ireland’s energy system envisages a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from that sector by 80-95% relative to 1990 levels by 2050. The White Paper identifies the long-term strategic importance of diversifying Ireland's energy generation portfolio and largely decarbonising the energy sector by 2050.

Ireland’s transition to a low carbon energy future will involve progressively moving to lower emissions fuels, e.g., moving initially from peat and coal to natural gas, and ultimately towards an even greater reliance on renewable energy. In that regard, the Government has introduced a range of policy measures and schemes to incentivise the use of renewable energy and deliver energy efficiency. In 2015, over 25% of Ireland’s electricity was generated from renewable energy sources.

The White Paper also recognises that oil and natural gas will remain significant elements of Ireland’s energy supply in that transition period.  

Ireland sources all its oil needs from abroad. In addition, Ireland currently sources its gas supply from the Kinsale gasfields, the Corrib gasfield and the gas pipeline from Moffat in Scotland. Corrib and Kinsale are not in a position to meet all of Ireland’s annual gas demand and so Ireland will continue to rely on gas via Great Britain for the foreseeable future. The Kinsale fields are expected to cease production by 2021 while Corrib production is projected to decrease to 50 per cent of its initial levels by 2025.

Taking this into account, exploration in Ireland’s offshore has the potential to deliver benefits to Irish society and the economy, particularly in terms of enhanced security of supply and reduced fossil fuel imports, as we transition to a low carbon future. In that regard, I recently made a suggestion to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment that Ireland's policy on energy security deserves a full debate by the committee in the context of our policy framework for energy transition, energy efficiency, renewable energy and offshore exploration.