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Shell to Sea Demands answers from CER and the EPA On how Un-odourised Gas entered the Network last Month

By: 
Midwest Radio

The recent incident with un-odourised gas leaving the Shell refinery at Bellanaboy  has resulted in as yet, unspecified volumes of un-odourised gas entering the national gas grid and as yet unknown quantities of toxins released to land, sea and air in Erris, according to Shell to Sea.

Shell to Sea is a group that has campaigned against a gas refinery being located at Bellanaboy, in north Mayo.

Shell to Sea has produced a list of specific questions for CER (recently renamed to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities) and EPA, the two statutory bodies charged with investigating this lapse in Shell's technical expertise.

The list includes 22 direct questions including - how was it possible for un-odourised gas – in any quantity – to leave Bellanaboy refinery and enter the national grid.

Maura Harrington of Shell to Sea has been telling Midwest News why the campaign group  wants a number of matters clarified. However, she said they are not confident that they will  get the answers they are seeking from either CER or the EPA.

According to Reuters the ongoing reduction in the output of the Corrib gas field has been extended by another 24 hours, to Wednesday, October 4th at 6am.That situation is confirmed by Norway’s Statoil.

In a statement on the Reuters website it says that the Corrib field’s output will still be reduced by 9.9 million cubic metres per day.  Statoil does not say why the outage was extended.

Midwest News contacted Shell E&P Ireland today to ask why reduced output from the Corrib field  has been extended by another day.The spokesperson said she could not comment on Statoil’s statement but did confirm that gas from the Corrib field has not been exported into the national gas network since the unodourised gas was detected on the 21st of last month. She added that Shell is working with Gas Network Ireland and the regulators in restoring the supply.

Posted Date: 
2 October 2017