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Ireland hit with multimillion-dollar arbitration claim over oil & gas project

Authorities & Government

May 12, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

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Oil and gas company Lansdowne Oil & Gas has embarked on an arbitration battle to pursue its Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) claim against Ireland over the country’s refusal to issue a lease undertaking for an oil and gas field in the North Celtic Sea, which is operated by Barryroe Offshore Energy’s subsidiary, Exola DAC.

Licence 1/11 (Barryroe field); Source: Lansdowne

Following the filing of a request for arbitration (RFA) regarding its dispute with Ireland over the Barryroe oil and gas field at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 2026, Lansdowne Oil & Gas ended up receiving written confirmation from ICSID that the ICSID Secretary-General registered the request.

The company sees this as an important step in the arbitration process, which will now be followed by the appointment of a tribunal. The firm intends to continue to vigorously assert its rights under the Energy Charter Treaty in its dispute with Ireland by pursuing a claim of a minimum of $100 million plus interest.

This comes after the ECT Secretariat announced on April 27, 2026, the receipt of notification regarding the country’s withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty, which will become effective one year after its notification to the Secretariat, from April 28, 2027. However, Ireland will continue to be bound by the 20-year sunset clause; thus, its withdrawal from the ECT will have no bearing on Lansdowne’s case.

Case against the government resigned and arbitration to follow

As previously reported, the Company is pursuing a claim of a minimum US$100 million plus interest.

Hopefully we might find some gold as well.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/research/gold/geology-and-gold/graphite-and-gold

A big thank you to Steve Boldy and all involved. A huge amount of work to get us here, away from the shares been cancelled. Hopefully things go well for everyone going forward.

Documentation is in near final form with the RTO now expected to complete during April 2026, subject to funding and other matters including finalisation of all relevant documentation.

With one day left, appears things have changed, and maybe the Barryroe licence will be reinstated. Best thing for all parties involved

Very good point Cephalo. Hopefully the government will do that. I am sure they are aware of Lansdownes claim against them, so they surely will be doing everything in their power to avoid that claim, especially in the current energy situation

Interesting reply from the minister for finance Simon Harris in reply to Michael Collins question in relation to Barryroe. He mentions in his reply that there are 13 existing licenses, I wonder is Barryroe one of those, but he also mentions that because of the renewable energy element to Barryroe he will ask the minister for energy to have a look at it. Perhaps just the mention by Barryroe Energy that they arr looking at renewable energy on the site, may be enough to fudge the issue in regards to letting Barryroe Energy proceed.

Hopefully the republic of Ireland will follow suit. There is a narrative that there is no point drilling for oil and gas off the Irish coast, because so little has been found, (apart from Kinsale and Corrib, two huge gas fields), Micheal Martin mentioned this reason in the dail this week. Barryroe is not commercial, so why even try. The same could be said for mining for rare earth minerals in Ireland. What difference does it make to the government if companies fail in their efforts to find resources. The other reason that the government is giving for not drilling is they are going to concentrate on renewable. All well and good, but fossil fuels make up a huge section of Irelands energy needs. As mentioned by the Social Democrats leader in the dail this week, seven hundred thousand households in Ireland use home heating oil to heat their homes. (The population of Ireland is five million). All this shows that Lansdowne's law suit against the government is the ace card that barryroe energy have to play against the government.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2026/04/16/the-irish-times-view-on-reopening-irelands-oil-and-gas-fields-not-the-answer/

Timmy Dooley did not rule out developing Barryroe, but mentioned that it is a demand from the fuel protesters that can't just happen straight away. I am sure that the government are fully aware that a case is been taken against them, and it could not be coming at a worse time for them, but prefect timing for Lansdowne. Michael Collins meeting with Barryroe Energy this week is of course a perfect move by the leader of Independent Ireland as they will make political hay out of Ireland’s offshore oil and gas resources. Michael Collins mentioning Barryroe last week in the Dail, was Independent Ireland putting down a marker that the political capital that will be made from Barryroe belongs to Independent Ireland

Timmy Dooley of Fianna Fáil speaking on RTE radio saying that some demands cannot be met straight away. "Opening up the Barryroe oil field just cannot be magiced up at short notice. "

Micheal Martin the Irish prime minister said the following on radio and TV today

"Because of these blockades we are now on the verge of turning oil away from the country in the middle of a global oil supply---- he continues by saying --- " It is inconsolable, it is illogical, it is difficult to comprehend."

We could not agree more

Huge emotional reactions on both sides of the fuel protests happening in Ireland now. An announcement that Lansdowne are suing the government for one hundred million euros for not allowing the development of Barryroe with 350 million barrels in situ will cause huge frustration nation wide.

The way things are going Cephalo we might not have any petrol at the pumps i a week from now.

Irish media is reporting the government cabinet members are worried about cutting excide duty on petrol and desiel as it might cost too much, and they are trying to cap the government funding to no more than one hundred million euro. The irony that Lansdowne is now suing the Irish government for one hundred million euros for not granting a licence to Barryroe that can produce 350 million barrels of oil. Of course the timing of the energy crisis is overlapping with the upcoming claim by Lansdowne against the government,, which hopefully puts pressure on the government to grant the licence, however Lansdowne are taking a claim against the government for compensation and they should keep their foot on the government's neck. That is what the government did to Lansdowne when they had the power.

Interesting snippet in the Phoenix magazine in a environmental column ' Fowl Emissions.'

A research paper by Professor Hannah Daly for University College Cork warned that data centres demand is simply ' incompatible' with Ireland’s climate commitments

Worse still, data centres are connecting directly to Ireland’s fossil gas network to bypass logjams in national electricity supply. Seven centres are already connected to the gas grid, with applications for 22 more to plug directly into our gas network.

These giant centres now consume more than one fifth of Ireland’s electricity supply- a far higher ratio than almost anywhere else in the world.

Already posted a couple of months ago, but this article gives the latest update on the future of the Barryroe oil field. Lansdowne now hold an ace card when it comes to reinstating the licence

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/10/02/goodman-continues-to-eye-developing-barryroe-oil-field-after-licence-expiry/

The arbitration claim against the Irish government would be very useful to Barryroe Energy and Larry Goodman in their efforts to reinstate the licence for Barryroe. Politically very difficult for the government not to reinstate the licence when there's a one hundred million dollar case been taken against them, and the realisation by the Irish public that the choice is, either end up paying the fine or develop one of the largest oil fields in Europe. High pressure will be over Ireland for the rest of this month so wind energy will collapse as it did in November. Hopefully this will result in high pressure been applied to the government as far as their energy security plans are concerned

Brilliant news really. At least one hundred million euros plus interest. Will be interesting to see how the Irish public react to this news, considering it is their money that Eamon Ryan has put them on the hook for.

Wind and solar energy contribution fell away almost completely at times.

Gas demand up 15% in November as heating switched on https://share.google/6scwvFhesMQGKvNQT

A new report from The Irish Academy of Engineering featured in the Irish Farmers Journal, states that eliminating all GHG emissions from energy by 2050 is not achievable. Laws, carbon budgets and policies to achieve this objective are demonstrably and inevitably failing. The rebalancing of Ireland's Energy Policy report argues that the Government's focus on reducing emissions ignores energy prices, energy security and long-term (25 years) planning of critical electricity infrastructure, and it is having a detrimental impact on Irish consumers.

At the heart of the problem is a legislative commitment to eliminate greenhouse gases within the next 25 years, a commitment the Academy says is technically impossible based on current engineering realities. The report points out that Fossil fuels still provide 83% of Ireland's primary energy requirements. This places Ireland among the most fossil-fuel dependent states in Europe, ranking fifth out of 28 countries assessed.

Renewable energy has increased, but geography and infrastructure limits what can realistically be achieved. Ireland does not have the hydroelectric capacity or the nuclear infrastructure of other countries that help to deliver low-carbon electricity year-round. The Academy argues that fines for not reaching climate targets arise directly from adopting European targets that did not reflect Ireland's structural limitations, a small isolated grid, no nuclear power, limited hydro resources and a planning system not fit for purposes anymore.

This leads to one of the central contradictions highlighted by the Academy. Policy aims to eliminate fossil fuels, yet fossil fuels are the only proven means of guaranteeing electricity supply during winter or periods of low renewable output.

Even under an extremely ambitious scenario where 95% of electricity comes from renewables and interconnectors by 2050, gas-fired generation would still be required, producing around 0.8 million tonnes of CO 2 per year. For heavy industries such as cement and alumina, which together emitted nearly 3-4 million tonnes of CO2 in 2024, there are no fully zero carbon alternatives available at scale.

Despite these realities, the systems meant to support renewable expansion are years behind schedule. Ireland's 2030 offshore wind targets will be "very substantially missed." the report warns, citing delays in marine area planning, environmental designations, port upgrades and grid reinforcement.

Without resolving these bottlenecks, the country cannot build the 2030 renewables needed, let alone the 54,000 megawatts contemplated in long-term policy plans, which the Academy suggests could impose unnecessary costs on consumers if pursued indiscriminately.

The report describes Ireland's current position as parlous in terms of energy security.