Ireland offshore oilfield has over 1bn barrels, says drilling company

Interesting story appeared in the Guardian earlier this year of great relevance to the exploitation of outr waters and the huge influence that the oil industry has.

• Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
• The Guardian, Wednesday 25 July 2012 17.48 BST

The Arctic III rig used for drilling at Barryroe. Providence Resources says Ireland's offshore field may contain up to 1.6bn barrels of oil. Photograph: Finbarr O'Rourke/Providence Reso/PA

Ireland's first offshore oilfield contains more than 1bn barrels of oil, an exploration company drilling off the County Cork coast has announced.
Providence Resources said Wednesday's results, which show that there could be up to 1.6bn barrels in the oilfield at Barryroe, far exceeded their previous projections.
The company said oil rigs could be operational off the southern Irish coastline within three years.
Tony O'Reilly, its chief executive, said the volume found in the Irish Sea could become as important to Ireland as the North Sea has been for the UK economy.
At present Ireland imports 100% of its oil – a quarter of which is refined not far from Barryroe.
The new results come after the successful drilling and testing of the Barryroe well back in March this year. Over the last few months data from the site has been taken to measure the volume of oil in the field.
Following Wednesday's results O'Reilly described Barryroe as "the well that just keeps giving".
He told the Guardian: "What really makes this special is that while we knew we had this big discovery, it has come in a lot bigger than we first expected. We think it is a hugely important moment in time for Ireland and its territorial waters.
"This well in Ballyroe is bigger than a lot of fields in the North Sea. The next question is – what will be the recovery rate? In the North Sea it's 38%. This is a very big tank of oil at Barryroe. Now we have to look how to develop this. The industry is beginning to speculate in London and they would have higher recovery rates than previously they thought possible from our field."
O'Reilly claimed the Barryroe results and the potential of other exploratory oilfields in five other locations off the Irish coast had huge implications for the country's economy.
"Ireland consumes about 140,000 barrels of imported oil every day so imagine if the country started producing its own. In terms of security of supply, the jobs created and the revenue to the taxpayer this is very good news for the entire island at a time of recession."
He added that it was fortunate that the oil had been located off the County Cork coast as it already contained industrial infrastructure that could help in the construction of future oil wells.
"You have the biggest oil refinery in the country that takes in about 25% of all oil Ireland consumes. Alongside that you also have the Kinsale gas field off Cork. So in terms of infrastructure we are perfectly positioned to get that oil out."
The next step for Providence is to negotiate with big international oil companies operating in the North Sea and the Gulf to form a partnership to extract the oil.

Mouthwatering food photography

Fish never looked so succulent - photographer David Griffen shoots food for a living - wonder if he gets to eat his subjects?

Swapping degrees for sardines!

Two stories hit the web today - both relate to the exploitation of fish from big foreign vessels. The first looks at an unusual offer from the Russian government to buy in a legal fishing opportunity off the coast of Senegal, while the other reports on foreign vessels making a mockery of local Goan fishing laws - sound familiar? - some things are slow to change it seems!

The Russian government has expressed interest in undertaking big-scale fishing in the waters of several African countries in exchange for free university scholarships.

The Senegalese News Agency, quoted the Russian embassy, said the Russians, apart from giving the scholarships, would also provide vehicles, construction material and office equipment to selected African countries.

The targeted countries are Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Namibia.

The Association of Russian Fishermen currently operating in several West African countries was quoted as saying that the agreement would help them to “optimise” their catch.

The association reportedly seeks to attain 400,000 tonnes of fish - mainly sardines and mackerel - and in turn hand over $160 million to the African countries.

The Russian offer comes at a time when many West African countries and particularly Senegal, are pushing out foreign fishing companies which have been flaunting fisheries regulations over the years.

Early this year, the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace disclosed that 44 giant Russian trawlers were massively exploiting fish resources within Senegal’s maritime territory and called for an immediate end to the practice.

The watchdog explained that the vessels had each the capacity of harvesting about 250 tonnes of fish per day and were “dangerously threatening to deplete the fisheries resources” in Senegalese waters.

Insiders said the Senegalese government has been losing over $4 billion annually to illegal fishing.

Story courtesy of Africa Review web site:


Sadly, in this story it seems the directorate of fishing is either complicit or unable or unwilling to do anything about illegal fishing!

TEAM HERALD 

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: Local fishermen on Monday accosted six trawlers from Karnataka which were found allegedly fishing in Goan territorial waters, even as the huge catch from these boats was being auctioned till late night by the Directorate of Fisheries.

Four of the trawlers were found off the Panjim coast, while two were caught off Vasco. Three of the trawlers were found berthed at the Malim jetty across Panjim late in the evening. 

An angry sounding Chairman of Mandovi Fisheries, Menino Afonso, said, “We sailed one hour from Panjim before accosting four of the trawlers fishing in Goan waters. These are having 350 hp engines, more powerful than our boats which run on 140 hp engines. This is illegal.” 

Afonso maintained each trawler had caught plenty of fish and the same was being auctioned by the Directorate of Fisheries. 

Director of Fisheries Nandkishor Verlekar remained present at the Malim Jetty till late night and was unavailable for a clear comment from his cell phone due to the auctioning chaos in the background. 

The Chairman of the Mandovi Fisheries said 15 days ago they had written to the Fisheries Department to station two officers to check outside trawlers fishing in Goan waters, but nothing was done in this regard. 

“While we have been given white colour code for our boats, these trawlers from outside don’t follow the same protocol. We also found out that none of the fishermen had identity cards. It looks like all the rules are for Goan fishermen only,” Afonso said while ridiculing conditions imposed on Goan fishermen.

“If fishermen from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu cast their nets in our waters how are we supposed to earn our livelihood? We will have to dock our boats and go home,” he said.

Mandovi Fisheries and other organizations of the boat owners have now called upon the authorities to pass a stern message to the Karnataka Government about their trawlers fishing here. They have threatened to block the Mandovi channel by docking their boats in the middle till the Government takes note of their grievances and takes firm steps to check the menace. 

Afonso said they have given a complaint to the Directorate of Fisheries and are waiting to see what action they will be taking against these trawlers. 

Story courtesy of the Goan Herald online.

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Megs 'n monk on Monday's morning market

Cracking quality from the inshore trawler Inisfallen...

while up at the Western end of the market traditionally the preserve of the net boats, the Ajax's final trip of the year produced well over a hundred boxes of good sized hake...

all bright-eyed and bushy tailed...

complete with QR code tallies...

plenty of megrim soles with the beam trawler Trevessa IV...

and a big run of ray from the inshore trawler Shiralee...

wide open gills on a big cod, inside, the gill plates are as sharp as razor blades!...

best bass boats had a good weekend on the Runnelstone Reef...

and this is typical of the finest line caught cod on the market, not a scale out of place...

the sardines are showing again...

alongside the fish market for the last time this year...

the boys on the Ajax over-end a tier of nets ready to go ashore for repairs...

 

as Tom keeps watch under the early morning moon and stars.

Trawling trials aim to cut fish wastage

A good-news story from the North Sea!

FISHING trials centred on addressing the issue of discards, involving five Grimsby-registered vessels, have produced positive results.

The throwing away of fish at sea – an issue highlighted by television cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall provoking widespread concern – has been virtually eliminated in the study.

Discards of sole, cod, plaice, megrim and angler fish were drastically reduced.

Operated on behalf of the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Marine Management Organisation report details how the practice could be an alternative method of managing fisheries, at a time when the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is undergoing reform.

The trials encourage fishermen to fish more selectively and land all of what they catch.

Participating vessels were provided with additional quota that amounted to three quarters of the typical discards.

As a result the average discard rate in the North Sea cod trawl dropped from 38 per cent to 0.2 per cent.

Vessels were not permitted to discard any of the species in the trials, including those below the minimum size.

Undersized fish catches were also low, suggesting more selective fishing.

James Cross, chief executive of the MMO, said: "This is really good news for all those interested in a long-term, sustainable future for our fishing industry.

"By working with fishermen to develop innovative solutions, we hope to reduce waste of our marine resources, while increasing healthy seas and fish stocks for the future."

Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon is keen for the trials to be rolled out to other fisheries in advance of CFP reform.

Full story courtesy of the Grimsby Telegraph.

Crystal Sea II - the biggest twin rigger in the West

Skipper David Stevens supervises loading a refurbished set of trawl doors aboard the twin rigging trawler, Crystal Sea II.  The using of two trawls together rather than one equivalent larger trawl has proved highly successful for white fish boats. As yet, there are still only a small number of boats rigged this way s in the South West despite the huge increase in catch rates seen by those practising the dark art of twin rigging!

The video below, commissioned by Notus, an electronics company that provides monitoring gear used by many of the bigger vessels gives an excellent overview of the work and setup involved.