Turn up the heat on Shell

Sunday April 22, 2007 22:04

by Brian Leeson - eirigi & Dublin Shell to Sea (writing in a personal capacity)

Dublin Shell to Sea has called for a ‘Day of Action’ on Frday, 27th April, outside of Shell’s Irish headquarters on Leeson Street. Here a few reasons why you should come along and make your voice heard.

So, Dublin Shell to Sea has called for a ‘Day of Action’ on Frday, 27th April, outside of Shell’s Irish headquarters on Leeson Street. Over the course of the last two years this building has been the scene of repeated protests, pickets and occupations, many of which have been reported on this website. ‘Why should I turn up on Friday morning?’ you ask, and it’s a fair question.

And there’s a good answer. You, your family, your neighbours and your friends are about to be victims of a crime; a robbery of unprecedented scale. The thieves have been patient and cunning, posing as your friends and co-opting both your political representatives and the people who are meant to protect you from robbery. These daylight robbers have laid their plans well and are currently constructing their getaway route – they intend to use a large pipeline to spirit your wealth away!

But they haven’t got away with it yet. There is still time to stop the robbery and we know where the thieves’ headquarters are. It’s from this lair that the Great Gas Robbery is directed. It is from here that the orders to imprison, to beat, to bribe and intimidate are issued.

So how big is this robbery going to be?
The exact size of the Corrib reserve and the surrounding fields has been the subject of much debate, on this website and elsewhere. Natural gas is measured in TCF (trillion cubic feet). Corrib and the surrounding fields are believed to contain somewhere between 1 TCF and 11TCF. For comparison the Kinsale field contained more then 1 TCF and supplied much of Ireland’s gas needs for twenty years.

As it is impossible to establish the exact size of the Corrib reserve it follows that it is impossible to put an exact monetary value on same. In monetary terms 1TCF of gas is worth about eight billion euros at today’s market prices. Corrib is therefore worth somewhere between eight and eighty-eight billion euros at today’s prices. So even at the lowest estimate Corrib is worth €8,000,000,000 and potentially, indeed probably, worth a multiple of that. That’s roughly €1,300 worth of gas for every man, woman and child on the island of Ireland.

Shell claims that Corrib contains roughly 1TCF, with an estimated field life of fifteen to twenty years. One can only guess at what sort of price gas will fetch in 2027.

It’s also worth noting that Corrib is only the first stage of a much broader plan to con the people of Ireland out of what is rightfully theirs. There have been a number of other potentially significant discoveries off the coast of Ireland, most noticeably the Dunquin reserve off the coast of Kerry. Providence, who along with Exxon, own the Dunquin reserve have estimated the potential of this reserve at 25TCF plus an additional four billion barrels of oil which at current prices could be worth in excess of three hundred billion euros.

All explorations for hydrocarbons in Ireland are conducted within a legislative framework developed by one Raphael Burke during his time as Minister for Energy. The fact that the people of Ireland will see virtually no benefit from their own oil and gas appears not to have bothered Mr Burke too much. Strange that.

What impact will the robbery have?
Much has been written about the potential benefits to Ireland accruing from publicly owned oil and gas reserves. Many have speculated about the positive impact that such a windfall could have on our health and education systems, and rightly so. Less has been written about the negative consequences of the status quo.

Over the course of the last four years the price of domestic gas supplied by Bord Gáis increased by 85%. At one point last winter domestic gas was actually 103% more expensive then it had been in 2003. This upward trend in prices occurred because Bord Gáis purchase gas on the international markets where the price of gas has been moving steadily upwards over the course of the last decade. Under the Burke legislation Shell, and the other energy companies, are under no obligation to sell Irish gas at a reduced rate to the people of Ireland. When the international price of gas increases so too will the price in Ireland.

This situation is exacerbated by the fact that Ireland is at the tail-end of the European gas network; a network which is increasingly reliant on gas from Russia and the Middle East. We have already seen the impact that political instability in these regions can have on gas prices.

And then there it the ESB which is moving increasingly to gas fuelled power stations, with roughly half of its electricity generation now dependent on gas. Once again the energy companies are under no obligation to sell gas to the ESB at a reduced price. Domestic ESB prices have risen by 70% since 2001.

The human cost of expensive energy is both widespread and dramatic. Fuel poverty, ‘the inability to heat the home adequately because of low household income and energy inefficient housing’ is a widespread phenomenon across Ireland. A major study in 2002 (‘Quantifying the severity of fuel poverty…’ Healy and Clinch, UCD) estimated the number of households experiencing occasional or persistent fuel poverty in the twenty-six counties at 227,000. The equivalent figure for the six counties in 2001 was 203,000 (‘Ending Fuel Poverty’ Department for Social Development). That means that over one million people in 2001 were living in houses that experience consistent or occasional fuel poverty (based on average household size of 2.4 persons).

Those experiencing fuel poverty are at increased risk, according to the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, of

• respiratory illness
• increased blood pressure and stroke
• worsening arthritis
• accidents at home
• social isolation
• impaired mental health
• adverse effects on children’s education
• adverse effects on nutrition

Every winter approximately 3,000 ‘extra’ people die in Ireland, when compared with the equivalent time period in the summer months (2,000 in the twenty-six counties and 1,000 in the six-counties). Research has also shown that fuel poverty played a major contributory role in many of these ‘excess winter deaths’. Further research has shown that, as ever, it is the old, the poor and the ill who are most likely to suffer the effects fuel poverty.

This is the real cost of the Burke legislation and the Great Gas Robbery – older people dying from preventable illness because they are afraid, or unable, to turn on their heating.

Can The Robbery Be Stopped?
The robbery of Ireland’s oil and gas will take decades to complete. At any point throughout that period the Dublin government can choose to change the terms under which the energy companies operate. Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador have all recently done just that. It would, however, be far better if those changes could be made now, before gas production from the Corrib field starts.

Shell is the lead company in the Corrib project, which itself is the lead project in the broader robbery of Ireland’s hydrocarbon reserves.

The focus of those opposed to the robbery of Ireland’s hydrocarbons should thus be twin-tracked, aiming to bring pressure to bear on both the Dublin government and Shell. This Friday it’s Shell’s turn. If you are opposed to the Great Gas Robbery you should be there at 7.30am to turn up the heat on Shell.