Moyle publishes congestion charging consultationPress Release - 20th January 2012
Planned gas storage facility receives a major boost
Mutual Energy Limited is pleased to announce that Islandmagee Storage Limited (“IMSL”), the company which is planning to build a natural gas storage facility at Islandmagee, has entered into agreements with BP Gas Marketing Limited (“BPGM”) regarding the appraisal of the project, and the option to acquire a 50.5% equity interest in IMSL. IMSL is currently owned by InfraStrata UK Limited (“InfraStrata”), together with Moyle Energy Investments Limited (“Moyle”), a subsidiary of Mutual Energy Limited.
Under the terms of a Joint Appraisal Agreement, BPGM has agreed to fund the activities necessary to develop the project up to the point where a decision can be made on whether to proceed with the detailed engineering design of the project, which will deliver important security of supply benefits for the island of Ireland. During this appraisal stage of the project, which will include the drilling of the first well, BPGM will be responsible for managing surface and sub-surface engineering matters. IMSL will be responsible for managing the planning, regulatory, land and stakeholder relations, and actually drilling and operating the well.
Commenting on the announcement, Paddy Larkin, Mutual Energy CEO said:
“We are delighted that a subsidiary of a major global oil and gas company of the calibre of BPGM is getting involved in the Islandmagee gas storage project, particularly at a time when the Northern Ireland Executive has made the economy its top priority and is focusing on attracting inward investment. There is no doubt that BPGM brings the necessary technical expertise on board to deliver a project of this scale, in addition to the financial capability that is being provided. This gives a very significant boost for the project which, when completed, will deliver important energy security of supply benefits for the whole of the island of Ireland and beyond.
However, it is important that the Northern Ireland Government and regulatory authorities, in conjunction with their counterparts in the south, can deliver the necessary regulatory environment to allow the project to proceed in a timely fashion and to ensure it can operate on a level playing field with gas storage elsewhere in the UK and Ireland. In particular, arrangements need to be in place to allow access to spare capacity in transmission pipelines within Ireland to allow the security of supply benefits to be accessed across the island. In addition a tariff structure needs to be developed that will allow the Islandmagee facility to compete fairly with storage facilities in Great Britain. Finally, in the future, gas must be allowed to flow into the Great Britain gas market from the Irish market.
Provided such a regulatory environment is established this essential project could be delivered with little or no additional cost to gas consumers on the island.
Today’s announcement represents a significant milestone for the project, and we look forward to working with BPGM in developing the project through its next important stage.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Background on the Islandmagee Storage Project: The proposed 500mcm (18 bcf) gas storage facility will be the largest on the island of Ireland and make a significant contribution to the security of gas supplies. The project partners are a subsidiary of InfraStrata plc, aUK independent gas storage and petroleum exploration company, and a subsidiary of Mutual Energy Limited, the owner of the Scotland to Northern Ireland gas pipeline. The facility is being designed to inject gas at 12mcm and withdraw gas at 22mcm per day. A planning application was submitted in March 2010 to the Northern Ireland Planning Service. Further information is available on the project website www.islandmageestorage.com.
2. Mutual Energy Limited owns and operates key energy infrastructure assets (the Moyle Interconnector, Scotland to Northern Ireland Gas Pipeline and Belfast Gas Transmission Pipeline) on a mutual basis with all the benefits of the low cost of capital and operational efficiencies being returned to energy consumers.
Issued on behalf of Mutual Energy Limited by Lagan Consulting. For further press & media information contact Sandra Bolan at Lagan Consulting Tel: 028 9261 9550 Email: sandra.bolan@laganconsulting.com