Lug Butterfly Valve
The natural gas field was discovered in 1996 and is the first reported
commercial natural gas discovery in Ireland since the Kinsale Head gas
field was discovered in 1973. The gas is from Triassic strata and the
field is located about 80 km off Erris Head in County Mayo, in water
depths butterfly valve of 355 metres in an area known as the Slyne Trough. Reserves in
the field are believed to be about 30 billion cubic metres (1 trillion
ft), 70% the volume of the Kinsale field. The natural gas in the Corrib
Gas Field is a very pure form of gas, consisting of approximately 97%
methane/ethane.
Licensing
The licence (deepwater exploration licence No. 2/93 covering four blocks
in the Slyne Trough) was granted on 1 January 1993 for a period of 11
years. It is held by Enterprise Oil, as operator, and its partners Saga
Petroleum Ireland Limited, Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Limited and
Marathon International Petroleum Hibernia Limited. It was issued under
the licensing terms for offshore oil and gas exploration and development
1992. Ownership is as follows: Shell E&P Ireland (the operator and
holder of 45% of equity), Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Limited (36.5%
of equity), and the Vermilion Energy Trust, who acquired Marathon
International Petroleum Hibernia Limiteds share in July 2009 (18.5% of
equity).
Engineers have already drilled five wells at the Corrib field and each
is ready for gas production. When in operation, each well is planned to
have a so-called hristmas tree structure above it that contains all
control and monitoring equipment. Flexible individual flowlines will run
from each well to a production manifold which will feed the gas into
the main pipeline.
Offshore Pipeline
The pipeline from the Corrib field to the landfall at Glengad is planned
to be approximately 83 kilometres in length. Work on this section of
the pipleine occurred in summer 2009 and involved over 7,000 lengths of
pipe being welded together onboard the Solitaire pipelaying vessel, the
largest such ship in the world.
Onshore Pipeline
The onshore pipeline is still in the proposal phase but is expected to
be some 9 kilometres in length and run from landfall to the drying
plant.
Onshore Processing Plant
The purpose of the plant is to dry the gas and remove impurities. The
Gas can then enter the Bord Gis pipeline network. The plant site is
located 9 kilometres inland near Bellanaboy Bridge and will have, when
completed, a capacity of 10 million standard cubic metres of purified
gas per day. The plant is expected by Shell to employ approximately 55
workers when operational. In summer 2009, the plant was reported to be
75% complete.
