Theres Oil under them there waves....

Poor Uncle Tom · 15-03-2012 8:29pm #1

What seems like a significant oil find 50 kms off the Cork Coast in shallow waters. Providence Resources can bring in over 3,500 barrels a day and only needs to draw 2,000 barrels a day to make the field economically viable.

The field is located at Barryrow, off the Cork coast. The same company is also testing for gas. This is the first major oil find by an Irish company in 50 years of searching and the largest find since a find half the size in the 1970's.

The technologies are available now to extract the high quality oil reserves found using horizontal drilling methods from the oil rich basal sands.

So what will this mean for the Irish economy, for Irish jobs and for jobs at sea?

Also, will this mean anything to the price of motor fuel or home heating oil at the pumps?

JustAddWater · 15-03-2012 8:33pm

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

So what will this mean for the Irish economy, for Irish jobs and for jobs at sea?

Also, will this mean anything to the price of motor fuel or home heating oil at the pumps?

Nothing, nothing and nothing

We'll get corporation tax from providence and that'll be that

Nodferatu · 15-03-2012 8:35pm

don't you know we will be eventually screwed over by our own government if not already as regards to this.

haven't our f*cking idiots in the fail... er sorry Dail already literally handed over our oil & gas under the waves to multi national corporate companies

''In recent years a number of Irish oil and gas reserves have been discovered. Together they are potentially worth hundreds of billions of euro. Despite the obvious strategic importance of these reserves the Dublin government has handed over the rights to all Irish oil and gas explorations to a host of domestic and foreign private energy companies.

This ongoing act of economic treason is greatly exacerbated by the fact that energy prices are set to rise steeply over the coming decades as the world’s oil reserves dwindle. The human cost of these increasing energy prices is already apparent. In Ireland hundreds of thousands are struggling to heat their homes as the reality of fuel poverty takes hold in post-‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland. A staggering 3,000 people die each year in Ireland due to preventable, cold-related illness.''

Cookie_Monster · 15-03-2012 9:10pm

Queue the hippy anti drilling brigade

3, 2, 1...

Good news no doubt despite the state or average punter seeing little from it

Poor Uncle Tom · 15-03-2012 9:27pm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Good news no doubt despite the state or average punter seeing little from it

I would have thought so anyway, it's hardly going to be bad news.

I heard a figure of €700million to the Irish economy over the life of this well. That's an incredible figure, is there any banks our government can give it to? or will they actually do some good with it?

Tabnabs · 15-03-2012 9:34pm

I'd say now's the time to be putting in the CV to http://www.mainport.ie

mp22 · 15-03-2012 9:41pm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Queue the hippy anti drilling brigade

3, 2, 1...

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

Jambo · 15-03-2012 11:33pm

mp22 wrote: »

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Queue the hippy anti drilling brigade

3, 2, 1...

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

Supply and standby vessels serving the gsf artic platform seem to operating out of Liverpool rather than Cork since she has been in stationed out there.

Jambo · 15-03-2012 11:35pm

mp22 wrote: »

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Queue the hippy anti drilling brigade

3, 2, 1...

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

Supply and standby vessels serving the gsf artic platform seem to operating out of Liverpool rather than Cork since she has been in stationed out there.

long range shooter · 16-03-2012 6:32am

Jambo wrote: »

mp22 wrote: »

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Queue the hippy anti drilling brigade

3, 2, 1...

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

Supply and standby vessels serving the gsf artic platform seem to operating out of Liverpool rather than Cork since she has been in stationed out there.

Thats why its cheaper to get cement.baryte.brine.mud etc transported to Liverpool.rather than Cork.
I remember it took many days to wait for a roadtanker from Aberdeen,the last time we supplied a rig outside Killybegs.

roundymac · 16-03-2012 3:26pm

mp22 wrote: »

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

They can protest all they like. The oil is 50kms off shore and that is the nearest it will get to Ireland. It will be pumped directly into a shuttle tanker and taken to Milford Haven to be refined.

long range shooter · 16-03-2012 3:46pm

roundymac wrote: »

mp22 wrote: »

To be honest I am surprised that the local and national protest nuts havent started up yet.
Down here they are protesting and having meetings about a new salmon farm in the bay(bantry).

They can protest all they like. The oil is 50kms off shore and that is the nearest it will get to Ireland. It will be pumped directly into a shuttle tanker and taken to Milford Haven to be refined.

oh no worries there.The last thing i heard they wiill protest against tankers coming to Irish waters(like it never happen?before!!)
They think a new exxon valdes is gonna happen in Irish waters?

mp22 · 16-03-2012 4:58pm

roundymac wrote: »

They can protest all they like. The oil is 50kms off shore and that is the nearest it will get to Ireland. It will be pumped directly into a shuttle tanker and taken to Milford Haven to be refined.

You would like to thing that whitegate would get a look in.

Poor Uncle Tom · 16-03-2012 5:52pm

Is Whitegate refining much oil now?

mp22 · 16-03-2012 7:39pm

I dont know how much they refine per year,but it is working away.
Conocophilips own it and the storage on whiddy island.

Poor Uncle Tom · 16-03-2012 7:51pm

I remember the explosion in the early 80's when the Betelgeuse went up. I knew they were still refining there but I thought it had been scaled way back and had never recovered fully from that.

Poor Uncle Tom · 16-03-2012 7:53pm

I can't believe it was January 1979 :eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse_incident

Just remembering:
We had a wall chart in school where we put pins of each of the Irish Ships on a Friday when we got the coordinates off the Times. We all moved the pins to the new locations. The Betelgeuse got it's own permanent black pin on Whiddy.

mp22 · 16-03-2012 8:36pm

http://www.irishships.com/follow_the_fleet.html I was working on some of those ships at the time

As for refining thats done in cork harbour,whiddy is just for storage http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDodrnlWNPZHsAI45NBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.images.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dwhiddy%2Bisland%26fr%3Dyfp-t-710%26fr2%3Dpiv-web%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=510&h=340&imgurl=www.irelandaerialphotography.com%2Fd_0457a.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irelandaerialphotography.com%2Faerial_photos%2F000457_whiddy_bantry.html&size=42.7+KB&name=Whiddy+Island%2C+Bantry+Bay.+Aerial+photo+of+Conoco+Phillips+oil+storage+...&p=whiddy+island&oid=a6c72e81eac151b92ec5e91f521a591a&fr2=piv-web&fr=yfp-t-710&tt=Whiddy%2BIsland%252C%2BBantry%2BBay.%2BAerial%2Bphoto%2Bof%2BConoco%2BPhillips%2Boil%2Bstorage%2B...&b=0&ni=21&no=7&tab=organic&ts=&sigr=12f9aq7hq&sigb=139tl0hf2&sigi=11ck99mr8&.crumb=gSl000ZUfAB

roundymac · 17-03-2012 12:42am

mp22 wrote: »

You would like to thing that whitegate would get a look in.

Whitegate can't refine that oil, it's a waxy crude, what Whitegate refines is North Sea Brent crude which is a light sweet crude.

who the fug · 17-03-2012 10:35am

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

I can't believe it was January 1979 :eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse_incident

Just remembering:
We had a wall chart in school where we put pins of each of the Irish Ships on a Friday when we got the coordinates off the Times. We all moved the pins to the new locations. The Betelgeuse got it's own permanent black pin on Whiddy.

re read the report a couple of weeks ago, amazing how a good safety plan in 1967, got amended by cost cutting and the reality of what the conditions were like.

Any one know why the harbour at whiddy was of no use to the tugs

who the fug · 17-03-2012 10:38am

Re the refinery at whiddy, it was a half assed idea by some Canadian, which met with allot of local opposition.

aindriu80 · 25-07-2012 7:38pm

Providence says oil field off Cork could contain 1.6 billion barrels
Updated: 18:25, Wednesday, 25 July 2012
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0725/providence-oil-find-could-have-1-billion-barrels-business.html

Oil exploration company Providence has said the Barryroe oil field off the southern Cork coast probably contains over a billion barrels of oil.

There is a possibility that it could contain up to 1.6 billion barrels.
In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said it was up to four times previous expectations.
The assessment was based on data from six oil wells drilled by Barryroe, together with 3D seismic data, as well as other regional data.
Providence is listed on the Dublin's ESM and the AIM in London.
The Chief Executive of Providence Resources has said work will now commence on figuring out how much oil can be extracted economically from the Barryroe oil field.
Tony O'Reilly Jnr said new plans and maps would be drawn up to see how the recovery could be maximised as cost effectively as possible.
Providence is to start looking for partners to continue the project through to first production.
Mr O'Reilly said the quality of oil tested was better than expected.
Analysis had shown it to be a ''sweet, light crude that moves well through the reservoir'' which he likened to ''a full bodied claret''.
'Major oil field, even by North Sea standards'
Mr O'Reilly described Barryroe as a major oil field, even by North Sea standards.
However, he stressed that the estimated one billion barrels of oil in the field should be described as "oil in place."
"You obviously have to then look at the abstraction technology to see exactly how much of that you can get out of the ground," Mr O'Reilly said.
"The key industry metric that everyone looks at is what is the recovery rate, we haven't put out any formal recovery rates yet, but to give you some guidance in the North Sea the average recovery rate from oil fields is about 38%."
"It may be a little bit less, it may be more, it really depends on the level of investment you make and the methodology you use to extract."
In relation to any potential concerns by local communities about the extraction process, Mr O'Reilly said that one of the fundamental differences about the future Barryroe development is that it is offshore.
Mr O'Reilly said local concerns are something that a company has to be aware of.

Does anyone know how much Ireland will get out of it in tax and the like ?

ex_infantry man · 25-07-2012 8:13pm

fcuk all i'd say, this was prob sold off by the government during the haughey era for a brown paper bag full of cash

roundymac · 25-07-2012 9:16pm

Tax at 25%, that's it, same princeple as the UK uses.

aindriu80 · 25-07-2012 10:33pm

so they expect to get around €7billion euro profit ? thats like €1.5 for Ireland, not exactly awesome

seanmacc · 25-07-2012 11:14pm

Knock off industries is now the name of the game. Helicopter companies, engineering companies, tanker companies, security ect. are all going to be needed. Under EU law the government can't set up or give favourable assistance these companies so its up to the Irish Entrepreneur to get his posterior in gear and get investment and strong companies together to get the spin off contracts (building and supply ect.) for this industry or Jacques foreigner will hoover them all up.

tricky D · 26-07-2012 1:48pm

roundymac wrote: »

Whitegate can't refine that oil, it's a waxy crude, what Whitegate refines is North Sea Brent crude which is a light sweet crude.

Talk on the radio yesterday suggested Rotterdam was most likely for the refining.

Tabnabs · 26-07-2012 1:57pm

aindriu80 wrote: »

so they expect to get around €7billion euro profit ? thats like €1.5 for Ireland, not exactly awesome

Step 1. Hand out a licence

Step 1. Invest no state capital

Step 3. ?

Step 4. PROFIT

Sounds like an easy way to make €1.75 billion

murphym7 · 26-07-2012 5:17pm

Worked for Seahorse years ago and a couple of the old lads on board were telling me to buy Providence shares - they were 0.03 cents a share at the time, they are 8.41 now. Isnt hindsight a wonderful thing!

This find is great for Ireland, it gets the bigger companies more interested. The Irish government can start shifting the goal posts a little then for the subsequent companies that come over here, inclusion of royalties etc... Nothing too drastic, but enough to sweeten the deal a bit for Ireland. It would have been foolish to have the Scandavian model before now - nobody would have bothered with us.

29-07-2012 1:57pm

See Providence are already talking about the next step, now looking for a partner to move do developing this find, and to cough up about €1 Billion to get started.

goldie fish · 29-07-2012 8:06pm

They wouldn't ask unless it would be worth their, and their prospective partners time. SBP had a positive write up about it too.

Rocky Bay · 29-07-2012 11:58pm

goldie fish wrote: »

They wouldn't ask unless it would be worth their, and their prospective partners time. SBP had a positive write up about it too.

"SBP" ? ...Sunday Business Post.

mp22 · 13-08-2012 4:34pm

In today's examiner http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/refinery-set-to-get-barryroe-oil-flow-203919.html

If that holds true the country might make a few bob!

tricky D · 13-08-2012 4:55pm

I've a suspicion that the reporter might be speculating inaccurately, the article doesn't say that Mr O'Sullivan himself actually said Whitegate would be used. Iirc it was Mr O'Sullivan himself who was interviewed on Newstalk and said Rotterdam was the most likely refinery to be used due to waxiness.

I've signed for a news trial on the Upstream site so should find out for sure later.

goldie fish · 13-08-2012 7:33pm

The refinery in its current format only has a future up to 2016. It needs major investment to modernise, and this will only be done if a new source is found.

BobbyPropane · 13-08-2012 7:34pm

Can't wait for the extremists to start protesting.

goldie fish · 13-08-2012 7:43pm

BobbyPropane wrote: »

Can't wait for the extremists to start protesting.

They'll have to find cork first.

Cork: Been welcoming pharma and petrolium industries since the early 70s, and no intention of that ever changing.

Rocky Bay · 25-08-2012 7:05pm

The Financial Times of last Monday, 20/8/12, had an interesting but in my opinion "dry" article on Norways oil fund. "Norway's National Nest Egg", began in 1996 with $300 million and is now worth $600 billion. I would like to think that in the future there will be a "Irelands National Nest Egg" article in the F.T.

roundymac · 26-08-2012 2:34pm

Rocky Bay wrote: »

The Financial Times of last Monday, 20/8/12, had an interesting but in my opinion "dry" article on Norways oil fund. "Norway's National Nest Egg", began in 1996 with $300 million and is now worth $600 billion. I would like to think that in the future there will be a "Irelands National Nest Egg" article in the F.T.

Yes it would be nice, only problem I suspect it won't happen in our livetimes. The need for oil has not reached crisis point yet, unless the Iranians try something stupid like nuking Isreal.

Tabnabs · 27-08-2012 12:25pm

There's some speculation emerging recently that the Faroe Islands are the next benefactors of oil

http://www.aftenbladet.no/energi/aenergy/Oil-can-turn-the-Faroe-Islands-into-the-new-Kuwait-3016019.html

goldie fish · 06-04-2013 8:56pm

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

I can't believe it was January 1979 :eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse_incident

Just remembering:
We had a wall chart in school where we put pins of each of the Irish Ships on a Friday when we got the coordinates off the Times. We all moved the pins to the new locations. The Betelgeuse got it's own permanent black pin on Whiddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFXEU85AyaI

Very interesting documentary (By Smit Tak) about the Salvage. Don't think its scale has been matched since.

who the fug · 09-04-2013 2:12pm

Watched this last night fascinating stuff , The Barracuda is now a standby vessel in the North Sea and Smit Lloyds 107 ended up in Nigeria

Rocky Bay · 09-04-2013 3:12pm

In regards the Betelgeuse, what happened to the three pieces of the wreck, were they scrapped in Bantry or towed out foreign and scrapped somewhere else?

who the fug · 09-04-2013 3:17pm

According to Wiki

A Dutch salvage firm, L. Smit & Co., raised the Betelgeuse in four sections. Smit produced a documentary on the salvage.[12] The first section (the bow) was towed out to open water, 100 miles (160 km) offshore, and scuttled. This measure attracted protests from the fishing community, so two further sections were sealed up and towed to breaking yards in Spain for disposal. A fourth section was broken up locally.[2] During the salvage operation, the life of a diver was lost. The last section was not removed until July 1980. Local fishing grounds were badly contaminated and a clean-up was not finally complete until 1983.

Rocky Bay · 09-04-2013 4:51pm

Is there any sign of the Kowloon Bridge in the area where it sank, such as a slick or an oily sheen on the water? I realize it is 25 years since it sank.

who the fug · 09-04-2013 4:55pm

Rocky Bay wrote: »

Is there any sign of the Kowloon Bridge in the area where it sank, such as a slick or an oily sheen on the water? I realize it is 25 years since it sank.

I don't think so , think she slid off into deep water.

Father could not understand why he left Bantry bay where he had shelter

Rocky Bay · 09-04-2013 5:20pm

who the fug wrote: »

I don't think so , think she slid off into deep water.

Father could not understand why he left Bantry bay where he had shelter

Did'nt the gardai board her seeking paperwork because there was a rumor she was carrying very dangerous chemicals? I thought the government had chased her out based on that fear. I believe there was also another ship in distress at the same time but I can't recall the details, it also took shelter due to an Atlantic storm. I flew from NYC that night and I gave myself a stiff neck looking out the right side window hoping to see something if we flew over west Cork. Needless to say with flew farther north and I did not see a thing...

goldie fish · 09-04-2013 6:57pm

The other vessel in difficulty was the Yarrawonga. the air corps managed to get a salvage crew aboard and they towed her off to repair the gaping hole in her sides. Navy were also standing by to sink her before she got too close to the shoreline.
Kowloon Bridge had an interesting back story. Her sister ship was the Devonshire, whose catastrophic hull failure during a Typhoon with the loss of all aboard was considered down to design fault.
What remains of her sits underwater near rocks off toe head. You'll find her ore cargo before you'll recognise a hull.

who the fug · 09-04-2013 6:59pm

What ever happen to that guy who bought the wreck

Rocky Bay · 09-04-2013 7:45pm

goldie fish wrote: »

The other vessel in difficulty was the Yarrawonga. the air corps managed to get a salvage crew aboard and they towed her off to repair the gaping hole in her sides. Navy were also standing by to sink her before she got too close to the shoreline.
Kowloon Bridge had an interesting back story. Her sister ship was the Devonshire, whose catastrophic hull failure during a Typhoon with the loss of all aboard was considered down to design fault.
What remains of her sits underwater near rocks off toe head. You'll find her ore cargo before you'll recognise a hull.

Thanks, it is starting to come back to me: the picture of the hole in the Yarrawongas ( starboard ?) side, the picture of the garda near blue 50 gallon drums on the Kowloon Bridge, the thick swirling clouds as we got nearer the west coast that night flying from NYC and the most chilling memory of all...about 15 or 20 years ago reading an article comparing the loss of the Kowloon Bridge and her sister, the Devonshire. I remember thinking after reading the article that, whichever ship was lost first anyone who sailed on its sister(s) was risking their life. I seem to think that it was in English newspaper or a maritime magazine. Does some of the Kowloon Bridges ore cargo wash up on shore or do you actually see ore in the water around her? What ever happened to the Yarrawonga? So far Wikipedia does not provide information on the Yarrawonga other than excerpts from political documents.

Tabnabs · 10-04-2013 9:58am

Rocky Bay wrote: »

Thanks, it is starting to come back to me: the picture of the hole in the Yarrawongas ( starboard ?) side, the picture of the garda near blue 50 gallon drums on the Kowloon Bridge, the thick swirling clouds as we got nearer the west coast that night flying from NYC and the most chilling memory of all...about 15 or 20 years ago reading an article comparing the loss of the Kowloon Bridge and her sister, the Devonshire. I remember thinking after reading the article that, whichever ship was lost first anyone who sailed on its sister(s) was risking their life. I seem to think that it was in English newspaper or a maritime magazine. Does some of the Kowloon Bridges ore cargo wash up on shore or do you actually see ore in the water around her? What ever happened to the Yarrawonga? So far Wikipedia does not provide information on the Yarrawonga other than excerpts from political documents.

Iron ore is an incredibly dense cargo and you load a relatively small amount (in comparison to coal for example) in each hold. I can't see any cargo being washed ashore, it would have sunk very quickly with the ship. On those big bulkers, give me coal any day. I've seen videos of iron ore carriers go down like submarines. The massive holds fill with water and down she goes almost immediately.

I sailed with an old man who did a trip on a bridge-class bulker as first trip cadet. I don't remember the details exactly, but they were loading oil and venting the tanks when they had an explosion on deck. It blew out most of the windows in the front of the accommodation and did a fair bit of damage. He was the most nervous skipper I ever sailed with and would regularly ring up to the bridge if he thought anything didn't "feel right".

Theres Oil under them there waves....

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