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NIOF slams Northern Ireland 'natural' gas study
6th July 2004
A report due to be published this September by campaign group, “Gas to the West”, which seeks to make a conclusive case for bringing natural gas to the west of the province has been slated by the Northern Ireland Oil Federation (NIOF) for being based upon inaccurate and unrealistic assumptions.
The Federation is highly critical of a number of the report’s key assumptions, which according to independent energy expert, Dr Patrick Waterfield who examined the report on behalf of the NIOF, “betrays a level of desperation for economic growth in the five council areas which, while deserving of support, cannot be achieved simply via the provision of natural gas.”
One of the report’s main claims is that “natural gas is absolutely essential to the continued economic viability of the entire region” although it offers no firm evidence in support this assertion. Instead, the authors of the report try to establish a link between the economic downturn in the West of Northern Ireland in recent years, particularly within the textile industry, and the absence of natural gas.
As far as Dr Waterfield is concerned, the decline in the textile industry across Northern Ireland, and indeed the rest of the UK, is largely attributable to other factors, most notably that of competition from the Far East.
Assumptions concerning the price stability of natural gas were also slammed by David Blevings and he continued:” It would appear that lessons have not been learned from the recent price increase fiasco involving Phoenix Natural Gas. We know that many people who switched to natural gas now feel cheated and powerless to do anything about rising natural gas prices since they’re tied to one supplier.’’
’’Although the oil industry is also subject to price fluctuations, it’s a competitive, open market and customers can see the transparency in price movements. We’re very concerned that the government will step in and offer public subsidies to develop the natural gas industry in Northern Ireland and help offset future price increases. In our view, this would be anti-competitive and extremely unfair both to the oil industry and the majority of customers in Northern Ireland who don’t use natural gas.”
According to David Blevings of the Northern Ireland Oil Federation, “Bringing gas west of the Bann is presented in this report as being the answer to all the economic problems facing this part of Northern Ireland, which is clearly unrealistic. This report is clearly biased and doesn’t offer wholly credible or accurate information. People deserve to have all the facts and the report fails them in this respect. Furthermore, the negative impact of promoting natural gas above other forms of energy cannot be ignored. In the interests of transparency and accountability, we are calling for a full and open debate that will allow the full facts regarding natural gas provision to be made available to the general public.”
