A Brief History of Irish Offshore Exploration

1970
Drill ship “Glomar North Sea” drills Ireland's first offshore exploration well in the North Celtic Sea Basin.

1971
The Glomar North Sea drills a third exploration well and discovers Ireland’s first reserve of natural gas, the Kinsale Head field. The ship is replaced with a semi submersible rig, which took two years to establish whether the find was commercially viable.

1970-1974
16 exploration and appraisal wells drilled.

1978
Gas production at Kinsale begins.

1975-1985
73 exploration and appraisal wells drilled. No further commercial discoveries are made.

1982
The United Kingdom removes royalties from new finds.

1986
Norway removes royalties from new finds. The UK removes state participation.

1987
In the face of a steep decline in exploration effort Ireland removes royalties and state participation. Exploration drilling continues to decline.

1986-1996
36 exploration and appraisal wells are drilled.

1989
The Ballycotton gas field is discovered.

1991
The Ballycotton satellite gas field, Ireland's first subsea completion, is added to the Kinsale Head field.

1992
Ireland reduces corporation tax for oil and gas companies from 50% to 25%. During the 1994-1997 period corporation tax in Ireland is reduced to 12.5% but corporation tax for oil and gas companies remains at 25%.

1996
The Corrib gas field is discovered in the Slyne basin off the west coast of Ireland.

1997-2000
10 exploration and appraisal wells are drilled but no commercial discoveries are made. All eight licences issued in 1995 in the Porcupine Round have been relinquished and of the eleven licences issued in 1997 in the Rockall Round, 10 have been relinquished.

2001
An appraisal well is drilled on the Seven Heads structure. The field was declared commercial in July 2002 and gas production, albeit at disappointingly low levels, became a reality shortly thereafter, with gas being brought ashore at the Inch Terminal near Cork.

2001-2004
17 exploration and appraisal wells drilled. No discoveries are made.

2006
Five applications from four companies are received for Frontier Exploration Licences in the Frontier Sylne/Erris/Donegal Licensing Round. A UK licensing round in September 2005 attracted applications from 99 companies, including 24 new entrants. A previous Irish licensing round only resulted in licences being awarded to two companies, neither of whom were new entrants.