£12m Irish Sea gas gamble fails

From the archive, first published Thursday 19th Jan 2006.

TESTS to find gas in the Irish Sea have ended in a £12million disappointment.

The Dragon Project had hoped to find gas in St George's channel but operators Marathon Oil UK have now confirmed that a test drill was unsuccessful.

A spokesman told the Mercury: "Marathon Oil UK can confirm that the well drilled offshore in late 2005 for the Dragon project did not discover hydrocarbons

"We are currently evaluating the next step with regard to the Dragon project."

Marathon had invested £12million into the test well and, had the project been successful, gas would probably have been brought ashore at Milford Haven.

The plan was to establish a gas processing plant within an existing facility (refinery, LNG terminal or power station) and gas could have been landed early in 2009.

Shortly after drilling began Dragon Project business manager Mike O'Neill accepted that it was a huge gamble.

Mr O'Neill told the Mercury at the time: "We've spent £12million on this well.

"We're reasonably certain it will be good news, but it's still a one in two chance."

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