A company which has supplied Ireland with natural gas for almost 30 years is to apply for permission to store one billion cubic metres of gas in depleted natural gas reservoirs 40 kilometres south of Cork Harbour.
PSE Kinsale Energy says the project would involve an investment of between €400-500m and would provide Ireland with a significantly enhanced gas storage capacity.
PSE Kinsale Energy, formerly known as Marathon Oil, has supplied Ireland with more than 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas since 1978 from fields such as Kinsale Head, Seven Heads and Ballycotton.
For many years the company produced all the natural gas consumed in Ireland. Today, though, those reservoirs are practically empty and less that 10% of the natural gas consumed here is produced off the Cork coast.
Now Kinsale Energy wants to convert those reservoirs into giant natural storage tanks, 750 metres below the sea floor.
Company representatives last night met community representatives from the areas on shore closest to the reservoirs to brief them on their plans to quadruple their existing storage capacity to one billion cubic metres.
