Charles Jillings, CEO of Utilico, energized by strong economic momentum across Latin America. Watch the video here.
No worries, I know for a fact that they have not sold and to suggest they have in effect under taken market abuse is ridiculous, ..GL S
Plus, if anyone is interested, the fund raise today, has been supported by a very small group of shareholders, myself included, who have all supported the previous two fund raises and was overwhelmingly supported and over subscribed, plus it was kept to a very modest amount to limit dilution .
Lansdowne have a much more significant landscape of legal argument available to them as a result of the ECT and the fact that Ryan within days of the Irish government entering into an arbitration process with Lansdowne, was parading around with the EU Energy commissioner proclaiming their intention of withdrawing from the ECT is a clear sign of weakness,
This I am sure will not be overlooked by any of the stakeholders in Barryroe, ..GL S
Letters
The Barryroe oil and gas field
A vital national energy source
Sir, – The distinct likelihood that Barryroe Offshore Energy, the owners of the Barryroe oil and gas field, will be forced into liquidation in a few weeks is a national catastrophe.
The reason for closing is because the Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, has refused to grant a licence for further evaluation test drilling.
The Barryroe field, just off the coast of Cork, has been independently proven to have more than 300 million barrels of oil as well as copious quantities of high-grade natural gas which, if developed, would afford us backup energy security in conjunction with renewables well into the future.
The company has, over the years, failed to attract investors due mainly to the incoherent and irresponsible attitude of Irish governments, particularly in 2019 when they foolishly stopped issuing oil and gas exploration licences off our coast, and, still today, opposing an LNG facility at Shannon.
These decisions were driven by incomprehensible Green Party ideology, despite the fact that 100 per cent of our oil and over 80 per cent of gas is imported.
Our only native source at Corrib off the Mayo coast is fast dwindling, leaving our future energy security on a knife edge and at the mercy of volatile international markets.
Prolonged and becalmed weather last year and currently has exposed the Coalition’s naive policy of relying on offshore and onshore intermittent wind energy.
It is now generally accepted that over the next two decades, we will have to rely on oil, natural gas and coal as permanent backup to unreliable renewables.
It beggars belief therefore that Coalition strategy favours long-term imports of low-quality fuels from the UK over a proven “sweet” native source at Barryroe.
As we are now again awash with money, we could, and should, even at this late stage, follow Norway’s successful strategy and take equity in the Barryroe field, and in the national interest, support rather than hinder its development to full production in 2026.
This pragmatic strategy, while anathema to the Greens, would provide us with vital national energy security and avoid our exposure to international markets.
It would boost the economy, allow us to cease high-cost imports and, importantly, give us full control over supply and price for decades to come. – Yours, etc
JOHN LEAHY, Cork.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/2023/07/05/the-barryroe-oil-and-gas-field/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
I wouldn't get too wrapped up in thoughts about fund raising dilution, the last two raises by Lansdowne have been restricted to circa 6 major shareholders and for modest amounts, I would suggest that approach will be followed again, as Lansdowne have very modest day to day running costs, which they are looking to trim further,
Plus, it would also appear there are no shortage of international litigation specialists lining up to work alongside Ashurst LLP, at no additional cost to Lansdowne,..GL S
Part 3
However, the court also said that the government could avoid the need for a referendum on investor courts by amending the Arbitration Act 2010 to give the High Court additional powers to reject the decisions of investor courts. The government appears to have taken no action on this since the Supreme Court judgment late last year.
Boylan is taking a separate case against the Irish government challenging the very constitutionality of the Energy Charter Treaty itself, partly on the grounds established in the CETA case.
Then there is the politics, as the treaty comes under increasing scrutiny and the number of EU countries announcing their intended exit from it continues to mount.
Ireland has kept its powder dry so far on its intentions to either stay in or leave the Energy Charter Treaty, waiting instead to see how proposed treaty reforms may play out.
But with the first case notified to the Irish government last week, it may be too late for the state to avoid slugging it out with a fossil fuel company in the controversial investor courts it was warned about for so long.
Part 2
But the Department of the Environment explicitly told the Business Post that refusal of the licence had nothing to do with climate action and that the “phasing out of fossil fuels or our security of energy supply did not form part of the assessment process”.
Instead, the department said the Barryroe project did not meet the criteria to grant a licence, including the “technical competence of the applicant and the financial resources available to it”.
It is these issues that the case will likely hang on, if it goes ahead.
There is no doubt that Barryroe Offshore Energy (formerly Providence Resources) has struggled to raise sufficient funding and successfully commercialise the field over its more than 40-year history.
But the government could be faced with a chicken or egg argument, whereby the refusal of the licence may be used by the plaintiff as the reason why funding couldn’t be fully secured in the end.
Either way, the case will be significant legally and politically.
Ireland signed up to the Energy Charter Treaty in 1994, which was originally designed to protect investors in energy in post-Soviet states.
But growing litigation of decarbonisation plans under the treaty in recent years has fuelled concerns that it is now stifling climate action in Europe. So much so that the European Commission wrote to member states earlier this year saying that the “most adequate” option would be for the EU and its 27 member states to leave the treaty together.
Shock judgment
The Lansdowne case has another layer to it as it will involve the use of investor courts, which the Irish Supreme Court recently ruled were unconstitutional when it delivered a shock judgment against the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU, taken by Patrick Costello, the Green Party TD.
Sunday Business Post - part 1
Daniel Murray: It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued over energy treaty
Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc is to launch €100m proceedings against the state after Eamon Ryan refused to grant a further exploration licence for the Barryroe field.
The Irish government can’t say it wasn’t warned.
Notice of the first case by a fossil fuel company seeking damages under the Energy Charter Treaty last week was considered inevitable by some.
The treaty allows corporations to sue governments for policy decisions around energy – including climate-related decarbonisation plans – that might impact on their profits and their future profits. The treaty has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with multiple EU countries saying they are going to withdraw from it.
“It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued,” said Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin senator.
Now Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc, a minority partner in the Barryroe oil and gas field off the coast of Cork, are using the treaty to seek up to €100 million in damages from the Irish state on the basis that Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, refused to grant Barryroe a further exploration licence, resulting in a loss of potential future earnings by the company.
It would be fair to surmise that the parties to the Barryroe field might have their suspicions about Ryan’s real motives for rejecting the licence, given that he is the leader of the Green Party.
Part 3
However, the court also said that the government could avoid the need for a referendum on investor courts by amending the Arbitration Act 2010 to give the High Court additional powers to reject the decisions of investor courts. The government appears to have taken no action on this since the Supreme Court judgment late last year.
Boylan is taking a separate case against the Irish government challenging the very constitutionality of the Energy Charter Treaty itself, partly on the grounds established in the CETA case.
Then there is the politics, as the treaty comes under increasing scrutiny and the number of EU countries announcing their intended exit from it continues to mount.
Ireland has kept its powder dry so far on its intentions to either stay in or leave the Energy Charter Treaty, waiting instead to see how proposed treaty reforms may play out.
But with the first case notified to the Irish government last week, it may be too late for the state to avoid slugging it out with a fossil fuel company in the controversial investor courts it was warned about for so long.
Part 2
But the Department of the Environment explicitly told the Business Post that refusal of the licence had nothing to do with climate action and that the “phasing out of fossil fuels or our security of energy supply did not form part of the assessment process”.
Instead, the department said the Barryroe project did not meet the criteria to grant a licence, including the “technical competence of the applicant and the financial resources available to it”.
It is these issues that the case will likely hang on, if it goes ahead.
There is no doubt that Barryroe Offshore Energy (formerly Providence Resources) has struggled to raise sufficient funding and successfully commercialise the field over its more than 40-year history.
But the government could be faced with a chicken or egg argument, whereby the refusal of the licence may be used by the plaintiff as the reason why funding couldn’t be fully secured in the end.
Either way, the case will be significant legally and politically.
Ireland signed up to the Energy Charter Treaty in 1994, which was originally designed to protect investors in energy in post-Soviet states.
But growing litigation of decarbonisation plans under the treaty in recent years has fuelled concerns that it is now stifling climate action in Europe. So much so that the European Commission wrote to member states earlier this year saying that the “most adequate” option would be for the EU and its 27 member states to leave the treaty together.
Shock judgment
The Lansdowne case has another layer to it as it will involve the use of investor courts, which the Irish Supreme Court recently ruled were unconstitutional when it delivered a shock judgment against the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU, taken by Patrick Costello, the Green Party TD.
Sunday Business Post - part 1
Daniel Murray: It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued over energy treaty
Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc is to launch €100m proceedings against the state after Eamon Ryan refused to grant a further exploration licence for the Barryroe field.
The Irish government can’t say it wasn’t warned.
Notice of the first case by a fossil fuel company seeking damages under the Energy Charter Treaty last week was considered inevitable by some.
The treaty allows corporations to sue governments for policy decisions around energy – including climate-related decarbonisation plans – that might impact on their profits and their future profits. The treaty has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with multiple EU countries saying they are going to withdraw from it.
“It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued,” said Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin senator.
Now Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc, a minority partner in the Barryroe oil and gas field off the coast of Cork, are using the treaty to seek up to €100 million in damages from the Irish state on the basis that Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, refused to grant Barryroe a further exploration licence, resulting in a loss of potential future earnings by the company.
It would be fair to surmise that the parties to the Barryroe field might have their suspicions about Ryan’s real motives for rejecting the licence, given that he is the leader of the Green Party.
Brian Carey - The Times
Litigation funds line up to take on state over Barryroe
Lansdowne Oil & Gas approached by litigation funding firms over denial of right to work the Cork prospect
Lansdowne Oil & Gas says it will tap specialist litigation funders to finance its case against the Irish government over the decision to withdraw a licence to explore the Barryroe prospect off the Cork coast.
The exploration minnow owns 20 per cent of the prospect alongside Barryroe Offshore Energy (BOE), which controls the remaining 80 per cent stake.
A UK-domiciled company, Lansdowne is pursuing a claim through international arbitration pursuant to the investment protection regime of the Energy Charter treaty (ECT), to which both Ireland and the United Kingdom are signatories.
In its annual report, released last week, Lansdowne said that it had been approached by litigation funding firms and initial discussions were already under way, “with positive feedback thus far”.
Lansdowne’s legal advisers, Ashurst, initiated arbitration proceedings under the ECT by submitting a letter to the government, which requires it to participate in discussions with a view to settling the dispute. The government has three months to respond to a settlement offer.
The company said that it intended “to wait to see” the government’s response before looking to formalise litigation funding.
Eamon Ryan, the climate change minister, last month withdrew the licence citing concerns over the “financial capability” of the partners.
As an Irish-registered company, BOE does not have a right to pursue international arbitration under the ECT.
It is believed to be in talks with its largest shareholder, Vevan, an entity controlled by the businessman Larry Goodman, about mounting a possible judicial review. Vevan underwrote a loan note issuance of $40 million (€36.6 million) to prove the financial strength of the exploration partners.
BOE, as operating partner in the joint venture, had already commenced planning for drilling in 2024, in the expectation that it would be granted a lease undertaking to continue work on the prospect. The company had gone out to the market inquiring about rig availability in early May 2023.
Lansdowne has said it values its interest in Barryroe at up to $104 million. It said there was “clear evidence” of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the minister “failing to act in a fair and equitable manner with the Barryroe Partners consistent with its obligations under Irish law and also international law”.
Brian Carey - The Sunday Times
Litigation funds line up to take on state over Barryroe
Lansdowne Oil & Gas approached by litigation funding firms over denial of right to work the Cork prospect
Lansdowne Oil & Gas says it will tap specialist litigation funders to finance its case against the Irish government over the decision to withdraw a licence to explore the Barryroe prospect off the Cork coast.
The exploration minnow owns 20 per cent of the prospect alongside Barryroe Offshore Energy (BOE), which controls the remaining 80 per cent stake.
A UK-domiciled company, Lansdowne is pursuing a claim through international arbitration pursuant to the investment protection regime of the Energy Charter treaty (ECT), to which both Ireland and the United Kingdom are signatories.
In its annual report, released last week, Lansdowne said that it had been approached by litigation funding firms and initial discussions were already under way, “with positive feedback thus far”.
Lansdowne’s legal advisers, Ashurst, initiated arbitration proceedings under the ECT by submitting a letter to the government, which requires it to participate in discussions with a view to settling the dispute. The government has three months to respond to a settlement offer.
The company said that it intended “to wait to see” the government’s response before looking to formalise litigation funding.
Eamon Ryan, the climate change minister, last month withdrew the licence citing concerns over the “financial capability” of the partners.
As an Irish-registered company, BOE does not have a right to pursue international arbitration under the ECT.
It is believed to be in talks with its largest shareholder, Vevan, an entity controlled by the businessman Larry Goodman, about mounting a possible judicial review. Vevan underwrote a loan note issuance of $40 million (€36.6 million) to prove the financial strength of the exploration partners.
BOE, as operating partner in the joint venture, had already commenced planning for drilling in 2024, in the expectation that it would be granted a lease undertaking to continue work on the prospect. The company had gone out to the market inquiring about rig availability in early May 2023.
Lansdowne has said it values its interest in Barryroe at up to $104 million. It said there was “clear evidence” of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the minister “failing to act in a fair and equitable manner with the Barryroe Partners consistent with its obligations under Irish law and also international law”.
Lansdowne have some very decent supporters in the background, plus BEY at this stage are probably on a different legal pathway and as operators and being an Irish company, they are possibly looking at grounds to progress a JR and whilst the JR would be a substantial win, if it was to succeed, it would be very unlikely that it would sway Ryan!
I believe the direct litigation is the more substantive approach and enables a much wider landscape of legal arguments, the JR pathway is very narrow in it’s scope, the Lansdowne approach is far more effective in my opinion and Barryroe, subject to their counsel, they may at some point decide that direct litigation is their preferred route,..GL S
The current board appear to stumbling from one mishap to another, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see a major restructuring of the board, as a condition of the financial support provided,
It’s not that many days ago that one of the media outlets, that appear to have some insight into the majority shareholder’s approach and the suggestion was a merger with Lansdowne was on the table, which appears to have been largely ignored by BEY, this may well gather some traction now in light of these latest developments,..GL S