Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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457. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of revenue that his Department has generated through the sale of gas and oil prospecting licences in each year since 1992. [11377/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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458. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of revenue that his Department has generated through the sale of gas and oil exploration licences in each year since 1992. [11378/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 457 and 458 together.

The criteria that are taken into account in considering an application for a petroleum authorisation are set out in Article 3 of the Licensing Terms for Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Development and Production 2007, which is available on my Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie. These criteria include, inter alia, the work programme proposed by the applicant, and the technical competence, offshore experience and financial resources available to the applicant to undertake the proposed work programme. As such, petroleum authorisations are not sold.

In addition to income from Corporation Tax, and royalty payments where applicable, in respect of production from the four commercial gas fields (Kinsale Head, Ballycotton, Seven Heads and Corrib), the State derives income from petroleum exploration and production authorisation acreage rental fees, together with application fees. The aim of these fees is to help meet costs incurred by my Department in discharging its regulatory functions whilst encouraging effective and timely exploration. The details of these fees are set out in Appendix 1 to the Licensing Terms.

Under Section 57 of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960 half yearly reports detailing all petroleum authorisations granted during the period of the report are required to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Part Two of the report details the total amount collected by my Department in respect of petroleum authorisation acreage rental fees and application fees during the period of the report. These reports are also made available on my Department’s website. The last such report published  was in respect of the six-month period ending 31 December 2017.

The following table sets out the combined acreage rental fees and application fees received in respect of petroleum authorisations by the Department from 1992 to 2001. The figures also incorporate data sales received by the Department:

The following table sets out the acreage rental fees and application fees received in respect of petroleum authorisations by the Department from 2002 to February 2018.