Interesting story in the Sunday Independent

[Dasayev]

THE property boom might be over, but Ireland could be on the verge of an oil and gas boom to rival the concrete economy of the last tenyears.

According to the Petroleum Affairs Division of theDepartment of Communications, Marine and NaturalResources, there is at least 10 billion barrels of oil lying off the west coast Ireland - which has a current value of €450bn (€50 a barrel).

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...za-679889.html


We could be a very rich country indeed. Just as long as we haven't given all these resources away, that is.

[Doylers]

shhhhhh.. dont tell Bliar and Bush, they'll invade

[HP]

THE property boom might be over, but Ireland could be on the verge of an oil and gas boom to rival the concrete economy of the last tenyears.

According to the Petroleum Affairs Division of theDepartment of Communications, Marine and NaturalResources, there is at least 10 billion barrels of oil lying off the west coast Ireland - which has a current value of €450bn (€50 a barrel).

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...za-679889.html


We could be a very rich country indeed. Just as long as we haven't given all these resources away, that is.

A word in your Shell...like

ooops!

[johnfás]

Might mean something if we had a state owned exploration company like the Norwegians. As it says in the article, we take 25% of any of it through taxes. On something like our natural resources the tax payments should be far higher. Plus a major company like Shell is going to find some method of paying less tax.

The net answer is, if this were the case, we would not see the true benefit without a state oil company.

[merle haggard]

The article neglects to mention that the OReilly family own Providence Resources . The 25% tax can be largely written off thanks to the terms of their agreement negotiated with Ray Burke (exploration and drilling costs by the company anywhere else in the world can be written off in tax) and no royalties whatsoever are payable either. This theft is much bigger than that of shell . We will soon be an net energy exporter , while receiving no royalties and next to feck all in the way of tax either .

[HP]

Here's an excerpt from an article harry browne wrote in 2005

"The story has obvious international dimensions. The rape of Ogoni lands in Nigeria by the self-same petro-giant has already been highlighted by campaigners (it's just 10 years since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others in Nigeria), and eyebrows have at last begun to be raised about the sweetheart deal that brought the company to the Mayo coast.

" I lecture to my students about the way Exxon Mobil rips off Equatorial Guinea, with the country getting only 12 per cent of the revenue from its own oil," a development-studies academic in Dublin told Counterpunch. "But here's Shell in Ireland getting a deal to extract Irish gas and the Irish State and people get absolutely nothing." Campaigners wonder if some relevant funds might be sitting in a politician's offshore account.

http://www.counterpunch.org/browne07162005.html

What price corruption eh?

I mean... err

[johnfás]

The article neglects to mention that the OReilly family own Providence Resources . The 25% tax can be largely written off thanks to the terms of their agreement negotiated with Ray Burke (exploration and drilling costs by the company anywhere else in the world can be written off in tax) and no royalties whatsoever are payable either. This theft is much bigger than that of shell . We will soon be an net energy exporter , while receiving no royalties and next to feck all in the way of tax either .

And I wonder why the Irish Independent would neglect to state such a fact...

[HP]

I forgot to add there was an article pulled pretty quickly from the Mail on Sunday's site last week about just how British (and presumably other) oil companies do business...

lets just say corrupt politicians and local officials play a prominent role... as do call girls, drugs dealers and even British intelligence...

[HP]

shhhhhh.. dont tell Bliar and Bush, they'll invade

Wouldn't it be easier to pay off a few politicians?

[MVOR]

Sure hasn't Bertie handed all this over to Shell already?