RE: Straight of Hormuz26 Jun 2025 13:12
MB, this is the text from the BP article,..GL S
1 of 2,..
Official tells Darragh O’Brien: Don’t meet firm that found one of Ireland’s largest gas fields
A Department of the Environment official advised Darragh O’Brien, the minister, against meeting the head of a company that has discovered 1.55 trillion cubic feet of gas at Inishkea West, near Mayo.
In February, Murray’s PR sent an email on behalf of Will Holland, chief executive of London-listed Europe Oil & Gas, requesting to meet with O’Brien.
“The company's chief executive Will Holland would really value an opportunity to brief you on the work being undertaken now to establish the ability of Inishkea to be ready for drilling, with the potential to be a secure, low-emission, indigenous energy source for Ireland,” the letter said.
The gas exploration company has a 15-year frontier exploration license for the Inishkea gas field, off the west coast and near the Corrib Oil field.
It previously informed investors it had found the Inishkea West site, part of the field, potentially holds up to 1.55 trillion cubic feet of gas - 92 per cent more than its previous estimate.
According to the letter the gas field “has the potential to provide Ireland with circa 75 per cent of its forecast gas demand until 2035”.
The letter said the field “could almost eliminate the need for gas imports from the UK during a three-year period between 2030 and 2032”.
Europe Oil and Gas said with its close proximity to the infrastructure at Corrib, it could be “brought online quickly and would enhance Ireland's security of supply”.
The department confirmed to the Business Post a meeting never took place between the minister and Holland.
An interdepartmental email sent in April advised the minister’s office not to meet with Holland to discuss the licence
The email said the Geoscience Regulation Office (GSRO) was meeting with Europa “to discuss progress on their exploration license” on May 22.
“As such, the GSRO does not see the need for the company to meet separately with the minister on their specific licence, as they have requested,” an internal email sent from a principal officer in the GSRO, said.
“If any meeting was to go ahead the focus should be on general policy / regulatory framework rather than specific licences,” the official added.
The principal officer attached a briefing, outlining that the previous government ended the authorisation for the exploration and extraction of gas, but companies who had current licenses could continue with their projects.
The briefing said the decision considered the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, 2021 in doing so.
In line with these policy and regulatory changes, the department is no longer accepting new applications for petroleum authorisations, nor will there be any future petroleum exploration licensing rounds,” the briefing note read.
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