Dempsey Grants Prospecting Licence
national |
environment |
news report
Thursday April 26, 2007 23:55
by S.Cat
Still No Announcement of Review of Terms
It's always worth keeping an eye on what is happening in government departments during the dying days of an administration. Minister Noel Dempsey has promised a number of times to review the terms under which licences are awarded, but to date, nothing has been announced. But sharp-eyed visitors to the Department of Marine website will have noticed that there was a slight change today.
The brief announcement was as follows:
______________________________________________________________________
Notice of Intention to Grant a Petroleum Prospecting Licence
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources , Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D., hereby gives notice that, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) of Section 9 of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960, as applied by subsection (2) of Section 4 of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968, he intends to grant a non-exclusive petroleum prospecting licence to:
GX Technology Corporation
2101 CityWest Blvd.
Building III, Suite 900
Houston, TX 77042
USA
in respect of certain areas designated under Section 2(3) of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968, and that he has deposited in the Office of the Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggar's Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4, a map showing the boundaries of such areas.
______________________________________________________________________
Maybe it's nothing. Maybe a small company which specialises is seismic exploration (part of the bigger IO group) is just going to have a look at what's out there because, you know, things are slow, and there are too many people hanging around the office. They don't expect to find anything, and if they did, sure they would never make any money on it.
We're always hearing how the area off the west coast is such a terrible place to look for oil and gas that we should be happy that anyone at all can be bothered to explore there.
In fact, it's so difficult to get anything out from the waters here, that we should nearly be paying them to take the stuff off our hands...
The website doesn't seem to show exactly where GX have got, for that info you'll have to go in person to Haddington Road, but the attached map does show the state of play up to February this year.
Since GXT doesn't own any rigs, wherever they are prospecting, they'll have to work with one of the big energy companies to extract anything they find.
Thank heavens we don't have a state company like those backward places in the third world. If we did, that would mean we could be working with prospecting companies on profiting from our own oil and gas.
When these resources are gone, we don't want anything to remember them by.
Let's make a clean break, and forget that we have all these resources cluttering up the place.
Where do you think this is- Nigeria?
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 3 2 1or did Mary do all the stroking ,by herself.?
It is so true, what you say about the dodgy strokes pulled in the last days of a government. Here's one from the same department.
In Donegal, just as the compulsory drift licence buyout was going well, the traditional draft net licence holders were all effectively wiped out of existence (and not told about it) by statutory instrument on March 22.
It was envisaged under the Salmon Hardship Fund that retention of draft net licence was to be voluntary. Draft nets accounted for 13% of the reported catch in 2006. Angling, by comparison took 19%, drift net the remainder. Yet someone decided that we better get rid of these evil traditional fishermen while we can, and before the drift net surplus returns to our rivers unhindered (we'll never get rid of them then!).
But there was to be a little twist. Draft Net fishing was going to get a reprieve - sort of.
On April 13 a 'selection' was made of who and where draft net fishing was to be permitted, Inver! Twenty-three licences were set aside for the good people of Inver (Mary Coughlan's homeplace) and the other 54 licence holders have been told to go to hell (or to Inver?).
Of course this was all highly questionable practice as only the Regional Fisheries Board has a right to make such a selection, and that only under specific regulation. But someone did, and to top it all, once the SI opening the way for the Inver people was signed on April 13, the closing date for receipt of applications was upon them. The closing date for receipt of applications for draft net licence was set on March 22 at - April 13!
But dont worry about the Inver people, they had their application forms sent out to them in good time before the law opening the way for them came into effect. Somebody had their crystal balls out.
I like happy endings!
Royal Dutch Shell's defeat at the hands of Gazprom is looking ever more comprehensive.