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Corrib Truth - Overdue

category mayo | environment | press release author Sunday August 28, 2005 16:52author by JMauthor address Rossport South, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland Report this post to the editors

A response to the powerful lies behind Corrib’s Unnatural Gas

The proposed gas pipeline in Erris, County Mayo, has at various times been referred to as either a transmission, distribution, domestic, offshore, sales or upstream pipeline, and even “offshore landline”. One thing is certain; no-one outside of the Shell/Statoil/Marathon partnership can take responsibility for the safety of the public. This is the number one concern for the people of Rossport.

Pipeline Design

The pipeline design was never evaluated by any competent authority, having been deemed, by Mayo County Council at the developers request, to be “exempt” from planning. The gas Refinery at Bellanaboy was turned down twice at the planning stages, but An Bord Pleanála eventually gave it the green light, overruling its own Senior Inspector who thoroughly condemned the project on a number of grounds.

The pipeline has from the very start been designed to withstand an operating pressure of 345 bar. Neither the design nor gas field have changed, but the stated operating pressure has dropped through 272 bar, 150 bar and 120 bar, to a recent figure of 100-110 bar, without any scientific basis.

The critical figure used to calculate various aspects of the pipeline, known as the
Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP), has never been openly stated.

The design code used by the engineers to achieve the pipe wall thickness of 27.1mm (1.07”) is the British BS8010, which is now out of date. This also happens to be the thinnest pipe allowable under that code, and ignores the need for 62mm (2.44”) at road crossings because of “difficulty in welding”.


Safety Distances

Design codes use the pipeline MAOP to determine the minimum safety distance to houses. The closest figure to this has been the often-repeated Maximum Operating Pressure (MOP) of 150 bar, which would result in a minimum clearance using BS8010 of 84m (273 ft).

The actual pressure that will be reached, and MUST be taken for safety reasons, is 345 bar, resulting in a clearance of 170m (553 ft). The safer Canadian/American model says this distance should be 295m (959 ft).

The houses in Rossport will barely be 70m (227 ft) away, and in several cases people will have to cross over the pipeline just 1.2m (4 ft) underground to get in and out of their homes every day.

This could never truthfully be described as “the highest possible safety standards”.


Waste Water

The outfall pipe takes waste products not recoverable from the gas treatment process and transports them 12.7km for discharge into Broadhaven Bay, home to nine confirmed species of whale and dolphin right up to Orcas; top of the food chain.

This discharge will contain varying amounts of the following; Chlorides, Sulphates, Bicarbonates of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron Hydroxide, Calcium Sulphate, Radon, hydrocarbon condensate, Methanol, corrosion inhibitor, well completion muds, scale inhibitor, anti-foam, heating medium, lube oils, descaling fluids, and up to 3 tons of Lead, Nickel and Mercury every year.

Other elements to be found include Barium, Boron, Phosphorous, Chromium, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Arsenic, Selenium and Silver … this will not be “drinking water “.


Air Pollution

On top of all the waste water pollutants, the air in the vicinity of the refinery will be poisoned by Oxides of Nitrogen, Oxides of Carbon, particulate matter, Volatile Organic Compounds, Methane, Sulphur Dioxide, and POCP emissions including Ethane, Propane, i-Butane, n-Butane, i-Pentane, n-Pentane, n-Hexane, n-Octane, n-Heptane and Methanol.


Safety Reviews

Two so–called “independent” safety reviews of the pipeline design have been carried out so far … both by companies with close ties to Shell.

Neither review covered the whole concept for this unique and experimental project, the “subsea tie-back” solution, alternatives to which have never been satisfactorily explored.

Incredibly a third review has been ordered by Minister Noel Dempsey, but this underlying problem is yet again not to be addressed.


Quotes

“The design of this pipeline is a totally different design”
MD Shell E&P Ireland Limited, Andy Pyle, denying the “upstream” section is comparable to gas transmission pipelines (RTE Radio1 06/08/05)

“.. this is a transmission pipeline.”
Corrib Operations Manager, Mark Carrigy (“Countryfile” BBC TV 07/08/05)

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com/
author by JMpublication date Sun Aug 28, 2005 17:09author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The preceding text is included in a booklet produced to counter the slew of lies distributed locally (published as newspaper ads and posted to residents in Mayo) by Shell.

This is a sample of the counter booklet, the details of which were obtained from the various documents already published or interviews broadcast from Shell to date.

Please spread the truth.

The Truth
The Truth

author by Pat Shinepublication date Mon Aug 29, 2005 13:32author email pandjshine at onetel dot comauthor address 34 Collier Avenue Milnrow Rochdale UK OL16 3UYauthor phone 00 44 1706 630981Report this post to the editors

I strongly protest at the shabby way the Irish Government has treated the men now known as the Rockport Five. They have stood up the a multi national giant when the The Irish Government has shied away from its responsibilities to the people of Mayo and to the the environment at large.

Along with thousands more throughout the land and overseas I call for the immediate release of these men and a full scale transparent inquiry into the total operation by Shell and Stat Oil

Yours sincerely,
Pat Shine

author by Alpublication date Mon Aug 29, 2005 14:30author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Pat,
Wheres Rockport? Its rossport.

Is there any chance of getting a bigger, clearer version? I cant read it on screen and when I make it bigger the quality is too poor.

author by JMpublication date Tue Sep 06, 2005 19:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A downloadable version of the brochure can be found on the shelltosea website. Look for a link to

truth.pdf

Slan anois

JM

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com/
author by Noelpublication date Tue Sep 06, 2005 20:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Anybody got a link to a site which shows us hom many new hospitals and schools we will be able to build with the many millions of tax revenue from the Corrib field?

Clowns need not apply.

author by Anthonypublication date Tue Sep 06, 2005 22:36author address author phone Report this post to the editors

It might be more enlightening to see how many hospitals and schools could be built with all the non-taxed profit that Shell will make from appropriating gas from the sea. However I doubt very much that such a web-site exists.

author by Terrypublication date Wed Sep 07, 2005 00:07author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Gas prices worldwide have doubled over the past two or three years and Gas Production in the North Sea area has peaked. This means that for the Shell and Statoil Corrib Gas is worth more than ever.

Recent estimates put the value of the gas at over 45billion euro or put another way 45,000 million euro

That could fund motorways all over the country and really low tax for the rich for many years and an incinerator or two in every county.

Ideally of course it would be spent on education, hospitals, a really good public transport system, a revamp of our rail system and a massive program to energy retro fit our homes and buildings for energy efficiency so as to prepare us in advance of Peak Oil. It could also help finance the a proper recycling infrastructure too. And I reckon there would be still change left over. Other things that could be put on the list, would be proper sewage, water treatment throughout the country and maybe start the cleanup of all the illegal contaminated toxic waste dumps around the country, although the culprits should of course be paying for that.

Can anyone else think what we could spend it on. Perhaps decent sports facilities in every area and stamp out all these private gyms for once and for all?

author by Workerpublication date Wed Sep 07, 2005 09:11author address author phone Report this post to the editors

What estimates are these Terry?? More of your internet research is it? Well done! OK so are you prepared to pay more tax (oh yea you probably dont pay any) so that the irish state can invest in oil and gas exploration in order to gain a larger slice of the very few commercial discoveries there are? Are you prepared to stand by and watch the state sink millions of euro into dry holes that is the norm when exploring offshore Ireland?

author by Terrypublication date Wed Sep 07, 2005 17:29author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I got the value for the value of the Natural Gas from an earlier story on indymedia here:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71348

The estimates are from an ex Statoil CEO. I would think he might have some idea.
------------------------------------------
Recent Estimates of the value of Corrib Gas

As Miceal O Seighin is reported to have said on a recent visit by family members "the issue which has stirred the Irish people in our defence has been not just the injustice of our imprisonment, but the fear of loosing what is theirs."

What is theirs, on recent estimates made by Mike Cunningham, ex- Statoil CEO are huge. The Corrib field, he says, is about 1 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF), but the potential over 3 years in the Erris Slynne basin, which is the area opposite Mayo, is between 4 and 7 TCF, with expectations of between 4 and 5 TCF in the subsequent period.

This sums over the whole period to between 9 and 13 TCF. At the present value of Gas, estimated, on the basis of oil equivalent, of an oil price of $60 a barrel, values each TCF at $5 Billion (dollars). This values the reserves in the Erris Slyne basin at between £45 Billion (dollars), and £65 Billion (dollars).

If the price of oil were to rise to $100 a barrel over the next 5 years, as most experts predict, this gives a value on the Gas reserves in the Erris Slyne basin at between $63 Billion (dollars) and $91 Billion (Dollars).
-------------------------------

Now to your other points.
>More of your internet research is it?
Should we ignore everything on the Internet. Should we only believe what comes from print media. Why is the medium so important to you?

>Well done! OK so are you prepared to pay more >tax (oh yea you probably dont pay any) so that the >irish state can invest in oil and gas exploration in >order to gain a larger slice of the very few >commercial discoveries there are?
I never mentioned anything about paying more tax.
What I did imply however is that if we got our fair share of the revenue, so 50% as was originally the position in 1975 until successive government ministers and officials decided to give away the Irish peoples assets for nothing. The 50% I think is too low and it should be more like 70% which is similar to what the Norwegians have been extracting from Statoil.

Your point regarding do I pay tax? What is the point of that comment, other than to try and throw mud and slander?

>Are you prepared to stand by and watch the state >sink millions of euro into dry holes that is the >norm when exploring offshore Ireland?
I never mentioned anything about the State doing this. I was discussing the value of the existing gas that we know is there.

And why do you refer to yourself as 'worker' Are you a PR consultant for Shell or Statoil perhaps and you are trying to pretend that you are one of the 'workers' and that you think this whole thing is nonesence and we should let Shell/Statoil getting on with robbing our resources and providing "jobs"

If so, it is a good tactic because it has worked well in the past and those PR companies really do provide value for Shell/Statoil

If not then you seem to misunderstand the signifiance of the theft that has taken place of the Irish people. Please outline whether you think this is okay or not.

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