Independent Media Centre Ireland     http://www.indymedia.ie

Corrib comparisons by Shell

category mayo | environment | opinion/analysis author Sunday August 14, 2005 16:55author by JMauthor address Rossport South, Ballina, Co Mayo

Inaccurate comparisons between Corrib and other gas projects.

Otway, Ormen Lange and Snohvit are the best examples of subsea tie-back technology applied to gas processing put forward by Shell.

The only parallel between these developments and Corrib is the absence of an offshore rig, and that processing is done on dry land. That is where the parallel ends.

Otway, in Victoria, Australia, is processed 5km inland, but the upstream pipeline runs under the shoreline to the plant using directional drilling, and then detours around Port Campbell, the nearest inhabited area. In other words, a tunnelled and sensitively routed pipeline, not one dropped in a trench next to houses.

The Ormen Lange field over 100km off the Norwegian coast is processed at a place called Nyhamna; right on the shoreline. The cleaned gas is then piped back out to sea for export to the UK. The high pressure gas never runs near populated areas either before or after processing.

The Snohvit gas field, again off Norway, is brought ashore onto the uninhabitated island of Melkoya, 4km from the mainland. Waste is pumped back out to the well, and liquid natural gas is shipped for export by tanker, without even reaching mainland Norway.

In short, and in spite of what Mark Carrigy and Andy Pyle maintain, the Corrib project remains a unique and unprecedented experiment.


Find out more at:

http://www.otway.woodside.com.au/
http://www.ormenlange.com
http://www.statoil.com/snohvit


http://www.indymedia.ie/article/71524

Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.