Posts Tagged ‘Irish Times’

The Irish Times – Monday, January 23, 2012

GORDON DEEGAN

OIL AND GAS multinational Shell has injected €90 million into its Irish subsidiary to deal with the spiralling costs of the Corrib gas field project.

Documents filed with the Companies’ Registration Office show that the global group has pumped the extra money into Shell Ireland.

The Irish company confirmed yesterday that the 5km onshore gas pipeline to bring gas from the offshore Corrib field to the market will not be complete until the second half of 2014.

The Corrib gas partners, Shell, Statoil and Canadian-owned Vermillion are now nine years behind the initial target to start generating revenues from the field.

The original estimate for developing the field was €800 million and the final bill for completing the project is now expected to be almost €3 billion.

The documents confirming the cash injection show that the Shell EP Ireland’s Ltd’s capital is now more than €704 million.

A spokeswoman for Shell said yesterday: “The €90 million is to support our ongoing activities on Corrib.”

The partners had hoped that gas would be brought ashore last year – however, this was before An Bord Pleanála ruled that half of the proposed overground pipeline would be unsafe.

This meant that the developers had to apply for permission to place it in a tunnel.

Shell, Statoil and Vermillion are expected to spend a further €378 million on the development this year.

They spent €250 million on the project last year. The total spend for the project at December last was an estimated €2.35 billion.

The 2012 spend estimate arises from Vermillion confirming that it is to spend €70 million on developing the field this year. It owns 18.5 per cent of the field.

Vermillion’s 2012 Capital Programme confirms this and also states that it will cost $135 million to complete the purchase of its stake from the original owner, US group, Marathon Oil.

In a written Dáil response last week on the progress of the field, Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte, said it is estimated that construction on the onshore section of the pipeline will take in the region of three years. He said: “First gas cannot, therefore, reasonably be anticipated before 2014.”

A spokeswoman for Shell said yesterday: “Work on the onshore pipeline, the final phase of the project to be constructed, is progressing well.

“Preparatory work at the tunnelling site is still under way and tunnelling under Sruwaddacon Bay is expected to start in the second half of 2012. Completion of the tunnel and the laying of the onshore pipeline is estimated to take at least two years to complete.”

About 400 people are working on the project, 350 of whom are based in Mayo.

Shell has 45 per cent of the field and Statoil has 36.5 per cent.

The field has one trillion cubic feet of gas and is expected to meet 75 per cent of Ireland’s peak winter gas needs for up to a decade.

It is now 10 years since the Government approved the Corrib gas project plan.

However, since then, the proposal has become mired in controversy, including the jailing of the “Rossport Five” in 2005 and a number of confrontations between the Garda and protesters at the site of the Bellanaboy terminal in north Mayo.

Separate judicial review proceedings on the onshore pipeline consents were settled in the High Court last year.

SOURCE ARTICLE

LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent

THE BROADCASTING Authority of Ireland has upheld complaints about RTÉ television’s reporting of an investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission into the Corrib tape controversy.

The authority found two RTÉ television news broadcasts on July 28th, 2011, on the findings of the interim Garda ombudsman report, were in breach of “fairness, objectivity and impartiality in current affairs” under section 48(1) of the 2009 Broadcasting Act.

The complaints against RTÉ about the news reports were lodged with the authority by Jerrie Ann Sullivan, one of the two women arrested after a Corrib gas protest on March 31st, 2011.

The ombudsman investigation was initiated in the public interest in April, after a camcorder borrowed by Ms Sullivan from NUI Maynooth, which was confiscated at the time of the arrests, was left switched on in a Garda car and recorded comments made by gardaí travelling to Belmullet.

An interim report released on July 28th confirmed that the tape had recorded gardaí joking about raping the women if they refused to give their name and address.

The report found no evidence of a criminal offence having been committed by gardaí and no evidence of a breach of discipline. A final report has yet to be issued.

The interim report noted a number of files from the camcorder were deleted, overwritten and unrecoverable. NUI Maynooth academics said they authorised deletion of material unrelated to the inquiry in line with research ethics and data protection.

In response, RTÉ said both the studio introduction and the reports were “fully accurate and there was no breach of impartiality or objectivity”. It also said it believed there was “no breach of any requirement in regard to the giving of harm or offence”.

But the authority cited “imprecise phraseology” in RTÉ 1’s Six One and 9pm news reports. This, combined with “the inaccuracy in the introduction to the news report, would have reasonably resulted in the viewer inferring that the recording of the incident investigated by the Garda ombudsman was tampered with”, the authority said. This inference was “not supported by the Garda ombudsman’s report”, it said.

Inaccurate impressions of the outcome of the investigation would have been reinforced by RTÉ’s use of part of an interview with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and a statement by Shell to Sea, the authority said. It found both news reports caused “undue distress and harm” to the complainant and requested that RTÉ issue a statement on its findings to be read on air. RTÉ said last night it accepted the decision.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 22, 2011

ÁINE RYAN

SHELL HAS announced the appointment of a new managing director at the Corrib gas project.

The communique came as local protest groups yesterday declined an invitation to contribute to a joint Oireachtas committee hearing on offshore resources and their exploration.

Michael Crothers is a Canadian native, born to Irish parents, and takes the helm as Shell prepares for the final phase of the operation. This involves construction of the longest sub-sea raw gas pipeline in western Europe.

Challenges by An Taisce and local residents to key consents for this final phase were settled in the High Court recently.

Mr Crothers takes over from Terry Nolan on December 1st next. Mr Nolan, who held the position for four years, announced his intention to retire some weeks ago and said he was “hugely proud” of the “many collective achievements” attained by partners and contractors at Corrib. “I would also like to thank the people of Erris for their welcome and support and for the many challenges they have raised,” Mr Nolan said.

Mr Crothers has worked around the world in the oil and gas industry over a 28-year period, 24 of which have been with Shell.

His most recent post was as general manager of Expansion Operations for Shell’s upstream business in the Americas. He has also worked in London as vice-president of health, safety, environment and sustainable development for Shell’s downstream business. He will divide his time between Dublin and Erris.

Meanwhile, local community group Pobal Chill Chomáin has strongly criticised the decision of An Taisce to make a settlement on judicial reviews of the project, removing one the final obstacles to the project. The group claims the project is now in a legal limbo.

The group also wrote to Andrew Doyle TD, chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture, declining an invitation to participate in a session to be held next week on November 29th. Pobal chairman Vincent McGrath states in the letter that the group’s key concerns for the “health and safety of the community” had not been addressed in a multitude of forums and settings.

“No integrated, cumulative risk assessment has ever been conducted on this project. Laws have been changed, standards amended, European rules ignored in order to advance the project,” Mr McGrath wrote.

He also said he wished to “to highlight the State’s facilitation of the project at every level, the criminalisation of our legitimate protests and the resultant human rights violations . . . We have been consistently excluded from having these issues properly and fully addressed.”

Maura Harrington of Shell to Sea also said they would not contribute either. Pro-Gas Mayo also received an invite to the meeting.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Monday, August 29, 2011

OF ALL the big questions facing the State, few have more profound long-term implications than the management of our natural resources. Official estimates suggest a potential reserve of hydrocarbons equivalent to 10 billion barrels of oil off the west coast alone. Were all of this to be recovered, it would be enough to supply Ireland’s gas and oil needs for a century.

With the stakes so high, it is imperative that the State gets its approach right. It has to balance the need to get companies to spend vast sums drilling wells with the public interest in maximising benefits from resources that belong to the Irish people. There is some urgency. A new round of applications for exploration licences in Atlantic waters closed at the end of May. Fifteen applications were received – the largest number of any licensing round to date and an indication that Irish waters are an increasingly attractive prospect.

Once these licences are issued, the holders will be, in effect, entitled to develop any finds they make under the current terms. It is widely acknowledged that these terms are extremely generous to the energy companies and produce a very low return for the State. An Indecon report, commissioned by the State in 2007, noted that “the current fiscal regime . . . yields among the lowest government take in the world”. Since then, the regime has changed slightly, with the potential for a higher tax take on very profitable fields.

By international standards, however, the terms remain very generous. Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte argues, in line with his Fianna Fáil and Green Party predecessors, that such terms are necessary to stimulate exploration activity. He may well be right, but the issue is too important to be left solely to the judgement of an individual minister.

The economics of energy and the technologies for recovering oil and gas from deep waters have changed so radically that it is time for a proper public review of this whole issue. That review should be undertaken by the Oireachtas committee on communications, natural resources and agriculture. It should be both open and open-minded, seeking not least to give the public some clarity on key questions. What is the status of the many discoveries made in recent decades that are still “under assessment”? How well do the current terms guarantee security of supply? Do they ensure the maximum amount of employment for Irish workers?

Mr Rabbitte’s position in this regard seems oddly contradictory. In April, when Éamon Ó Cuív suggested such a review in the Dáil, Mr Rabbitte replied that “I will agree. I will accept the spirit of his proposition.” Subsequently, however, he said he would go ahead and issue the licences under the current round, regardless of what the Oireachtas committee decides to do. This is an absurd approach to such a serious question: decision first, debate afterwards. It is not the way a healthy democracy considers issues of vital public importance. There should be a pause in the issuing of licences until the end of the year, to allow the Oireachtas committee to conduct a rigorous review.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Friday, August 26, 2011

LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent

SOCIALIST Party MEP Paul Murphy says he intends to lodge a complaint with the Garda Síochána over his treatment at a Corrib gas protest in north Mayo yesterday.

Mr Murphy says he was “assaulted by gardaí” as he participated in a sit-down protest on a public road close to the Corrib gas terminal at Ballinaboy.

“I was punched in the head, I had my pressure point targeted – as in my ear was deliberately twisted to a point of excruciating pain and my stomach was repeatedly poked and prodded at very sensitive points,” Mr Murphy said.

He said the action was “deliberately to cause severe pain, trying to get me to stop participating in the protest”.

Mr Murphy said he heard gardaí directing each other to “go for the pressure points” as they removed up to 20 people involved in a demonstration.

The Garda Press Office said it would not comment on the specifics of Mr Murphy’s claims. However, it said that one person who was on top of a truck was arrested, charged with public order offences and released on bail to appear in court next month.

A Garda spokesman said protesters had been asked repeatedly to move from the public road, where they were causing an obstruction. They were then removed by gardaí, he said.

Mr Murphy said that the incident arose when he and up to 20 others staged a “peaceful sit-down” around a truck which had halted on the road, after a protester boarded the truck and sat on top of it.

Garda brought a cherry-picker vehicle to remove the protester.

Mr Murphy says he may take the issue further, and will make a statement to the Amnesty International-FrontLine human rights observer who has been assigned to monitor the response to demonstrations at the Corrib gas project.

“What I have seen here today only deepens my solidarity with the people of Mayo who are resisting Shell,” he added.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Friday, August 5, 2011

LORNA SIGGINS

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has described as shocking the scientific findings of a United Nations Environment Programme report which found extensive oil pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.

The human rights group has called on Royal Dutch Shell, as lead oil company in the area, to focus on the “truth, rather than protecting its corporate image” if the problem is to be addressed.

The UN study published yesterday found carcinogens up to 900 times above World Health Organisation levels in drinking water in one area.

The study describes how polluted sites that Shell claimed it had cleaned up were found by UN experts to be still polluted.

The report was conducted at the Nigerian government’s request and paid for by Shell. The Shell Petroleum Development Company said it welcomed the report. Its managing director Mutiu Sunmonu, said last night: “This report makes a valuable contribution towards improving understanding of the issue of oil spills in Ogoniland. All oil spills are bad – bad for local communities, bad for the environment, bad for Nigeria and bad for SPDC. Although we haven’t produced oil in Ogoniland since 1993, we clean up all spills from our facilities, whatever the cause, and restore the land to its original state,” he said

“The majority of oil spills in Nigeria are caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining. We urge the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to curb such activity, and we will continue working with our partners in Nigeria, including the government, to solve these problems and on the next steps to help clean up Ogoniland,” he added.

The UN programme team examined more than 200 locations, and carried out detailed soil and groundwater contamination investigations at 69 sites.

It found that control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure in Ogoniland “has been and remains inadequate” and says that “the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues”.

“In one community, at Nisisioken Ogale, in western Ogoniland, families are drinking water from wells . . . contaminated with benzene – a known carcinogen – at levels over 900 times above World Health Organisation guidelines. The site is close to a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline,” it says.

“This report proves Shell has had a terrible impact in Nigeria, but has got away with denying it for decades, falsely claiming they work to best international standards,” Amnesty International global issues director Audrey Gaughran said.

“There is no solution to the oil pollution in Niger Delta as long as Shell – as the most powerful actor on the scene – continues to focus on protecting its corporate image at the expense of the truth, and at the expense of justice,” she said.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Thursday, April 7, 2011

LORNA SIGGINS and CONOR LALLY

THE GARDA Síochána Ombudsman Commission is due to receive a formal complaint today from the two women at the centre of the controversy over allegations of misconduct by Garda officers.

One of the women is also due to attend a Shell to Sea press conference in Dublin this morning.

The Garda ombudsman initiated an inquiry on Tuesday as a “matter of public interest”, following the revelation that gardaí were inadvertently recorded on a camera making jokes about threatening to deport and rape one of the women.

The video camera was confiscated from one of the women after their arrest for alleged public order offences at the Shell Corrib gas pipeline site at Aughoose last Thursday. The women were taken in separate vehicles to Belmullet Garda station, where they were later released without charge, and discovered the camera had not been switched off after it was taken from them.

The ombudsman investigators are expected to interview gardaí at the centre of the case today. A separate internal Garda investigation into the incident, conducted by Garda Supt Gearóid Begley of Tuam division, is at an advanced stage.

This report will be presented to Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan, who is in charge of the western region, and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. They are expected to get that report as early as today and will then decide if a criminal investigation should be opened or if the matter will be dealt with by way of an internal Garda disciplinary process.

Garda sources say they believe the matter will most likely be handled as an internal disciplinary matter. Possible sanctions could range from suspension or monetary fines to dismissal. At this stage, dismissal of the gardaí is not regarded as the likely outcome, a number of sources have said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was concerned about the alleged comments, which he described as completely inappropriate.

“I’ll wait and see the result of the investigation both by the Garda and the ombudsman but I have to say that these remarks, if they are true, are completely inappropriate for any member of the Garda to make about anybody,” Mr Kenny told RTÉ news.

He was “quite sure” there would be consequences as a result of the investigations, which he hoped would be concluded “quickly and effectively”. The “vast majority” of gardaí did their job “as they are expected to do”, he said.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said he was shocked on hearing the contents of the recording. Mr Gilmore said that rape was a heinous crime and should not be laughed at. He urged people not to jump to conclusions until investigations were complete and said people should have no hesitation in reporting a sexual offence to the Garda.

The Association of Garda Superintendents said its members never encountered gardaí making disparaging remarks about the crime of rape. “The reported remarks are not reflective of what generally takes place within the organisation on a day to day basis,” association president Garda Supt Jim Smith said.

At the association’s annual conference in Westmanstown, Dublin, yesterday, Garda Supt Smith said the association would never condone inappropriate remarks about rape and the comments were not reflective of the Garda mindset.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA), which represents rank-and-file gardaí, said the matter was a very serious one that may yet result in criminal charges.

While the gardaí, including a number of GRA members, who were under investigation were entitled to due process, the association said it does “not condone any conduct or discussion that attacks women or women’s rights”.

GRA general secretary PJ Stone said coverage of the episode may have given the public the wrong impression about the comments. “Many people will be under the wrong impression that comments were made directly to a woman. They were not.”

The GRA, which represents more than 11,000 members in the near 14,500-strong Garda force, described the comments as inappropriate, adding they “should not have been said by anyone”.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter moved to reassure victims of sexual crimes that their cases would be fully investigated by the Garda.

“It is of huge importance that in all circumstances in which members of the Garda Síochána are interacting with the general community that they’re considered in the approach they take and respectful of all individuals,” he said.

SOURCE ARTICLE

A previous application submitted by Shell and Corrib gas partners was rejected by Bord Pleanala. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill

LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent

Bord Pleanála has approved Shell E&P Ireland’s third proposed route for the final section of the Corrib gas pipeline with 58 conditions.

Inspector Martin Nolan, who chaired last year’s resumed oral hearing on the revised plan, says that the application’s “clarity and transparency” provides “confidence that the safety of the public is fully protected, and that the public will not be put at risk”.

He said this new plan submitted by Shell and partners last year was the “most suitable, the shortest and the most obvious route for this development”.

The route involves constructing a 4.2m-wide tunnel in Sruwaddacon estuary for a pipe carrying high pressure raw gas from the landfall at Glengad. The final section will run overland to the gas terminal already completed at Ballinaboy.

The offshore pipeline has already been laid.

Sruwaddacon estuary is a special area of conservation (SAC), running between the communities of Rossport, Pollathomas, Glengad and Aughoose. Among the groups which made submissions to Bord Pleanála on health and safety issues was the local national school at Pollathomas

Mr Nolan said the development was a “major project by any measure”, but the modifications proposed would have a “remarkably light impact on the pristine environment of the area”.

A previous application submitted by Shell and Corrib gas partners was rejected by Bord Pleanála as half of it was deemed unacceptable on safety grounds due to proximity to housing.

Mr Nolan said the board’s decision to “adopt a consequence based routing distance was a key driver” which “provided the impetus for Shell to moderate the consequence of a gas release” from the pipeline.

“Corrib will, I have no doubt, provide impetus for future expansion of the natural gas network in Ireland and I expect it will provide impetus for additional exploration off the coast,” Mr Nolan said. “Corrib will in my view provide opportunity for Mayo in particular to develop as a new energy producing centre.”

However, he said that new momentum was required to “engage the local community and to ensure the benefits of the scheme are developed and harnessed locally”.

He has recommended that an €8.5 million “community gain investment fund” be paid over five years by Shell and partners, which would be held in trust by Mayo County Council.

He said he believed this fund would “provide a strong enabling community gain which can be developed with leadership at every level into a long term economic and social stimulus for the area locally, but regionally as well”.

He praised Government policy on developing gas energy, but said that “further strategic planning” was required if “the depths of controversy and conflict seen in the Corrib scheme are to be avoided in future”.

“Standards, strategic development sites, strategic corridors, clear process requirements for all consents, open procedures for decision making, transparency in presentation of projects” were areas which had “led to the depth of conflict and controversy seen in the Corrib scheme”, Mr Nolan said.

SOURCE ARTICLE

The Irish Times – Monday, October 18, 2010

LORNA SIGGINS Western Correspondent

Its board of management took a decision some months ago not to apply for funding offered by Shell and its Corrib gas partners. The school made a submission on the new pipeline route to An Bord Pleanála, as it overlooks the proposed location through Sruwaddacon estuary. Shell said it had been funding the Mayo Water Safety Area Committee for three years and had received “no complaints”

SOURCE ARTICLE