Barryroe Offshore Energy Share Discussion Threads

[mcbull] 18/7/2023 08:47

So we are ready to give up while LOGP go for compensation in the courts.

What happens if they win and we are no longer a company. Does aybody know?

Seems quite unfair?

[wpc9] 18/7/2023 06:34

this is terribly upsetting to think one man can do this to a company.

keep importing from a warlord.

Greens are absolute hypocrites who are now also responsible for another mess in RTE

[hermana3] 17/7/2023 06:50

The Board never gave a stuff about us lot here. We were the suckers who trusted they considered our ownership rights but they have sols us down the road and there is SFA we can do I think.

[jotoha2] 15/7/2023 15:20

The fact is this BOD have played this so the only thing that was important was their take home pay , a bunch of wasters , and getting the Beef man involved was again set up so they could carry on with their up market scam , what a disgrace they are to everyone who has invested here , lets hope LOGP get some sort of pay back , this is looking bleak to say the least.

[salthill] 15/7/2023 14:27

Ireland will be without its only indigenous Natural-Gas Supply.

Natural Gas supply verses demand down 20%.

Downtime for Corrib is nigh.

Ireland will be without the Corrib Natural-Gas while the maintenance proceeds.

An extended maintenance could be required if additional engineering works are necessary.

hxxps://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/07/14/way-being-paved-for-essential-works-to-proceed-at-mayo-natural-gas-terminal/

[hermana3] 12/7/2023 19:44

Spot price at $80 but that self absorbed Minister Ryan has left us in the most uncomfortable position of hoping our heavyhitters dont cut us out of a lawsuit against our oppressors.

[steelwatch] 11/7/2023 17:01

To clear 1907/8

[mcbull] 11/7/2023 15:38

Maybe not over until the Landsdown lady sings........

Daniel Murray: It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued over energy treaty

Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc is to launch €100m proceedings against the state after Eamon Ryan refused to grant a further exploration licence for the Barryroe field.

The Irish government can’t say it wasn’t warned.

Notice of the first case by a fossil fuel company seeking damages under the Energy Charter Treaty last week was considered inevitable by some.

The treaty allows corporations to sue governments for policy decisions around energy – including climate-related decarbonisation plans – that might impact on their profits and their future profits. The treaty has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with multiple EU countries saying they are going to withdraw from it.

“It was only a matter of time before Ireland was sued,” said Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin senator.

Now Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc, a minority partner in the Barryroe oil and gas field off the coast of Cork, are using the treaty to seek up to €100 million in damages from the Irish state on the basis that Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, refused to grant Barryroe a further exploration licence, resulting in a loss of potential future earnings by the company.

It would be fair to surmise that the parties to the Barryroe field might have their suspicions about Ryan’s real motives for rejecting the licence, given that he is the leader of the Green Party.

But the Department of the Environment explicitly told the Business Post that refusal of the licence had nothing to do with climate action and that the “phasing out of fossil fuels or our security of energy supply did not form part of the assessment process”.

Instead, the department said the Barryroe project did not meet the criteria to grant a licence, including the “technical competence of the applicant and the financial resources available to it”.

It is these issues that the case will likely hang on, if it goes ahead.
There is no doubt that Barryroe Offshore Energy (formerly Providence Resources) has struggled to raise sufficient funding and successfully commercialise the field over its more than 40-year history.

But the government could be faced with a chicken or egg argument, whereby the refusal of the licence may be used by the plaintiff as the reason why funding couldn’t be fully secured in the end.

Either way, the case will be significant legally and politically.
Ireland signed up to the Energy Charter Treaty in 1994, which was originally designed to protect investors in energy in post-Soviet states.

But growing litigation of decarbonisation plans under the treaty in recent years has fuelled concerns that it is now stifling climate action in Europe. So much so that the European Commission wrote to member states earlier this year saying that the “most adequate” option would be for the EU and its 27 member states to leave the treaty together.

Shock judgment

The Lansdowne case has another layer to it as it will involve the use of investor courts, which the Irish Supreme Court recently ruled were unconstitutional when it delivered a shock judgment against the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU, taken by Patrick Costello, the Green Party TD.

However, the court also said that the government could avoid the need for a referendum on investor courts by amending the Arbitration Act 2010 to give the High Court additional powers to reject the decisions of investor courts. The government appears to have taken no action on this since the Supreme Court judgment late last year.

Boylan is taking a separate case against the Irish government challenging the very constitutionality of the Energy Charter Treaty itself, partly on the grounds established in the CETA case.

Then there is the politics, as the treaty comes under increasing scrutiny and the number of EU countries announcing their intended exit from it continues to mount.
Ireland has kept its powder dry so far on its intentions to either stay in or leave the Energy Charter Treaty, waiting instead to see how proposed treaty reforms may play out.

But with the first case notified to the Irish government last week, it may be too late for the state to avoid slugging it out with a fossil fuel company in the controversial investor courts it was warned about for so long.
swizz2 Jul '23 - 16:02 - 245 of 246
Brian Carey - The Sunday Times

Litigation funds line up to take on state over Barryroe

Lansdowne Oil & Gas approached by litigation funding firms over denial of right to work the Cork prospect

Lansdowne Oil & Gas says it will tap specialist litigation funders to finance its case against the Irish government over the decision to withdraw a licence to explore the Barryroe prospect off the Cork coast.

The exploration minnow owns 20 per cent of the prospect alongside Barryroe Offshore Energy (BOE), which controls the remaining 80 per cent stake.

A UK-domiciled company, Lansdowne is pursuing a claim through international arbitration pursuant to the investment protection regime of the Energy Charter treaty (ECT), to which both Ireland and the United Kingdom are signatories.

In its annual report, released last week, Lansdowne said that it had been approached by litigation funding firms and initial discussions were already under way, “with positive feedback thus far”.

Lansdowne’s legal advisers, Ashurst, initiated arbitration proceedings under the ECT by submitting a letter to the government, which requires it to participate in discussions with a view to settling the dispute. The government has three months to respond to a settlement offer.

The company said that it intended “to wait to see” the government’s response before looking to formalise litigation funding.

Eamon Ryan, the climate change minister, last month withdrew the licence citing concerns over the “financial capability” of the partners.
As an Irish-registered company, BOE does not have a right to pursue international arbitration under the ECT.

It is believed to be in talks with its largest shareholder, Vevan, an entity controlled by the businessman Larry Goodman, about mounting a possible judicial review. Vevan underwrote a loan note issuance of $40 million (€36.6 million) to prove the financial strength of the exploration partners.

BOE, as operating partner in the joint venture, had already commenced planning for drilling in 2024, in the expectation that it would be granted a lease undertaking to continue work on the prospect. The company had gone out to the market inquiring about rig availability in early May 2023.

Lansdowne has said it values its interest in Barryroe at up to $104 million. It said there was “clear evidence” of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the minister “failing to act in a fair and equitable manner with the Barryroe Partners consistent with its obligations under Irish law and also international law”.

[hermana3] 11/7/2023 06:05

Yes and hope we get a chance to participate in a battle to fillet that gangster Eamon Ryan and his goons at DECC.

[theshenagainagain] 11/7/2023 02:55

Only two weeks to go. We should all be much the wiser then. :)

Peaeff. I agree. Deplorable stuff.

Down with that sort of thing!

[hermana3] 10/7/2023 18:40

We close to being an extinct species...

[ps200306] 10/7/2023 18:24

Peaeff, BEY cannot come back in by the back door under a different government. Once the current decision is allowed to stand, the SEL 1/11 license ceases to exist and cannot be revivified. As far as Sleepy Ryan is concerned, Barryroe is now dead. BEY has no entitlement to it, and DECC can't reissue the authorisation to them or anyone else.

From the 2022 Policy Statement on Petroleum Exploration: "Since June 2020, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has no longer accepted new applications for new petroleum authorisations. In addition, there will be no future licensing rounds. Holders of existing authorisations are not affected by these changes and may apply to progress their authorisations through the licensing stages towards a natural conclusion – which may include expiry, relinquishment or production... It is expected that the overall number of authorisations will continue to decline as authorisations expire or are relinquished – with no new authorisations for new exploration replacing them. However, as holders of existing authorisations may apply for successor authorisations, it is possible that the number of lease undertakings and leases could increase over time as the amount of exploration licences declines."

The only possible way Barryroe stays alive is through a successful lawsuit (and that sounds seriously doubtful). If the cost of such a suit was borne by Goodman and possibly other large shareholders, they would almost certainly use it as an excuse to squeeze PIs out. The probability of PIs recovering anything is in giant asteroid strike territory.

[hermana3] 10/7/2023 18:19

We have been given damn all information by BOD and it is simply deplorable. Bet Goodman,O'Driscoll and Furlong know the score and it is obvious our welfare dont matter much at the top table.

[peaeff] 10/7/2023 14:46

Oh and just as an aside!

theshenagainagain

I posted some personal comments on 15/6 (1702) to which you took me to task (1704) and yet just 4 days later (1754) you were expressing the very same thoughts as myself. You expressed further similar thoughts on 30/6 (1825) so can I now take it that my original comments were indeed valid and that you have been a little slow in realising it.

In view of what you posted then, I did ask the question of you if you had some insider source as to what was being considered but I noted you failed to respond to that. You did, however, avail us of the findings of your crystal ball but it would seem you too are now doubting that.

Disrespectful and shoddy management whatever the outcome.

regards

[peaeff] 10/7/2023 13:53

Perhaps they have come to to the conclusion that to wind things up at present is the quickest and cheapest way to the problem of PI's involvement. Then at a later date hope a new Government thinks differently and subsequently approved the LU, thus further enhancing their, already, considerable wealth.

I just cannot see an asset like Barryroe being set aside and forgotten, and there is still LOGP's possible action, should that ever have any clout.

[ps200306] 10/7/2023 13:06

BEY can't use the ECT to sue the Irish government because it's a domestic company. A judicial review can only rule whether procedures were followed, it cannot say what "should" have been done. Not clear what BEY's options are, and management don't think us plebs are worthy of even the briefest of communications. As far as anyone knows they are willing to go out with a whimper and wind up affairs imminently.

[salthill] 10/7/2023 09:56

The relevance of the Enery Charter stays in effect when a member Nation signs out for up to 20 years I understand.
A previous member Country to the Energy Charter is still subject to the rules of the Charter.
Therefore legal action may be commenced by an aggrieved Company etc for up to 20 years following a Signature member Country resigning initially from the Energy Charter.

[peaeff] 10/7/2023 09:00

Herm the big question us WILL THEY?

[hermana3] 10/7/2023 06:44

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) was introduced in 1994 to enable multilateral cooperation in the energy sector. However, today it is widely recognized as an obstacle to the green energy transition and a safeguard for the fossil fuel industry. The ECT has become the most used treaty in investor–state arbitration, costing governments hundreds of millions of dollars and preventing more ambitious climate action.

What will BEY and LOGP use to sue this cheating Government for compensatory damages?

[salthill] 09/7/2023 11:50

Was the Red Carpet rolled out in Dublin to help make this High ranking Chinese Communist Offical and his entourage feel at home.
Minister Ryan managed to allocate time to meet and greet.
I presume Minister Ryan gave them an ear bashing about China being the greatest polluting and Carbon emitter on this Planet.
Hopefully he went onto to talk about China's part in the destruction of the Rainforests.
In addition the use of slave Labour and non unionised
workforce in the China's manufacturing Industries producing at prices that European and the rest of the World can't compete with obviously alongside Chinese Government export subsidies.
Solar panels, ev bikes,wind turbines and thousands of other products in turn being imported by Europe and the rest of the World ensuring the collapse of our Irish and Europe's manufacturing industry with the assistance of these pratices.
You can't get away with slave Labour without legal consequences in Europe or in Democratic Countries, I am sure this was in your top 10 of lectures for this Communist delegation Minister Eamonn Ryan.
In the meantime Minister Eamonn Ryan China is securing 20 plus year supply contracts for Liquid Natural Gas supplies.
Contracts have been signed with producers from Asian, Middle East and the United States.
In addition increased LNG production that will come on stream in the next number of years is also being forward purchased by China.
China has not abandoned it convention source of Electricity derived from Natural Gas and Petroleum and Coal.
In fact China is building an even greater amount of Coal burning stations than ever before.
Life span of each at least 25 to 30 years.
China is also drilling everywhere possible onshore and offshore for both Natural-Gas and Petroleum within its own Country for indigenous supplied.
In fact the deepest well to date World wide are being drilled by China.

China won't leave any of its own Natural Resources in the ground unlike Ireland.
When the largest manufacturer of solar panels, wind turbines etc will continue to consume the Worlds highest volumes of Natural-Gas and LNG and Petroleum and Coal for the next 50 years there must be a lesson there even you may understand Minister Eamonn Ryan

hxxps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7b7c2d86-1dd8-11ee-a1d2-5f915afc01a5?shareToken=6b8a25c2dd852efbfc98c82a0c9ae34a

[theshenagainagain] 08/7/2023 03:03

What ever happened to the politicians who were calling for Barryroe to be given the green light? They seem to have gone silent on the issue.