At the helm of the ambitious plans are Providence Resources, headed up by Tony O’Reilly Jnr, and Start Energy, who will commence an evaluation of Kish Bank basin project soon.
A three-year leasing option at the basin, which is located 20km east of Dublin bay, was recently awarded to the two firms by the Department of Energy.
The Kish Bank project, which has been dubbed 'Ulysses', stretches across eight blocks at the site.
The project also encompasses oil and gas exploration.
Mr O’Reilly has expressed hopes the project will eventually help to slash Ireland’s carbon footprint, and increase natural gas storage capabilities.
-- Advertisement --
He said the future of the project would be revealed within a year, when investigations at the Kish Bank basin were complete.
The Providence Resources boss said the partners want to see if they can "capture the CO2, pipe it and then inject it 1.5km into the earth".
"Providence has been evaluating various gas storage opportunities together with Star Energy since both companies entered into the Irish Gas Storage Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2007.
"The Ulysses Project is particularly exciting for Providence given its proximity to the city of Dublin, with its large carbon footprint.
"If successful, we hope that the Ulysses Project may contribute to reducing Ireland's carbon footprint as well as possibly increasing its natural gas storage capacity, both of which have been identified by the Irish Government as strategic national energy objectives," said Mr O’Reilly.
An assessment will take place to establish whether the sandstone reservoirs, beneath the Kish Bank, can be used for carbon sequestration.
Roland Wessel, Chief Executive at Star, said the project "has the potential to be the first successful offshore carbon sequestration project in both Ireland and the UK".
Norwegian oil company Statoil Hydro has operated a similar offshore CO2 sequestration project, known as Sleipner, in the North Sea since 1996.
(PR/NS)
