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AFTER SEVERAL YEARS, Shannon LNG Ltd has been successful in its bid to receive planning permission to build a gas power plant in north Co Kerry.
Shannon LNG Ltd’s plans to develop gas infrastructure in Kerry have been the subject of much public debate.
Some politicians, including Minister and Kerry TD Norma Foley, have welcomed the planning approval, saying it will create new jobs in the area.
Others, however, like Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, believe developing gas isn’t the right move for Ireland given the global climate crisis and our binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many local and environmentalist groups have for years resisted development of natural gas or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure in Ireland.
They argue that it could pave the way for bringing fracked gas — which can have significant environmental and human health impacts – into Ireland and lock Ireland into fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when the country needs to be reducing its greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of the climate and environment.
Here’s what we know about the company behind the high-profile project, including its financial statements, its risk assessment, and how it’s lobbied senior members of Government and civil servants in recent years.
The plant approved by An Bord Pleanála this week would be located on a 630-acre site between Tarbert and Ballylongford and have three turbine halls each containing two gas turbines with generators and two heat recovery steam generators with 35-metre tall exhaust stacks.
Shannon LNG Ltd’s ultimate parent company is New Fortress Energy Inc, which is incorporated in the state of Delaware in the US.
Since 2022, New Fortress Energy has lobbied the government on its interests on multiple occasions, including meetings with senior members of Cabinet.
Records on the national lobby register show that Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan are among the politicians the company has lobbied in recent years.
In early 2022, New Fortress Energy sent a letter to Martin, Varadkar, and Ryan, Cabinet ministers Paschal Donohoe, Michael McGrath and Darragh O’Brien, and the secretary generals of six government departments.
The letter concerned “energy security of supply issues” and the “characteristics” of New Fortress Energy’s projects in the “rapid delivery of energy infrastructure”.
Later in the year, representatives from New Fortress Energy had a meeting with then-Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and then-Fine Gael TD for Kerry Brendan Griffin along with a special adviser from the Department of Enterprise and chief of staff of the Department of An Taoiseach.
They “briefed the meeting on the challenges to security of energy supply facing Ireland and Europe” and “highlighted New Fortress Energy’s capability in this regard, including the capability of prioritising and fast-tracking the development of the LNG section of New Fortress Energy’s Shannon proposal and New Fortress Energy’s achievements in the transition to a hydrogen economy”.
The company also had a meeting in 2022 with Minister and Kerry TD Norma Foley and her parliamentary assistant and another with Minister of State and Limerick TD Patrick O’Donovan.
And it met with officials at the Department of Environment while the department was working on the government’s review of energy supply security to give New Fortress Energy’s views on the matter.
Its most recent lobbying disclosure, which covers the period from May 2024 to August 2024, details that the company used an email, letter and meeting to try to “increase awareness of the risks posed to the Irish energy security by reliance on a single supply point for gas imports from the UK and the benefits that the New Fortress Energy project can provide to the country”.
The company also requested that “any State investment decision to deliver on the Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Facility be based on a competitive tender process”.
It named 16 subjects of that lobbying, including Simon Harris and chiefs of staff of the Department of An Taoiseach; then-Minister for Finance Jack Chambers; the Secretary General of the Department of Environment; and several TDs from both government and opposition parties.
As of 2022, Shannon LNG Ltd was loss-making.
It recorded a loss of €3,726,075 in 2022. It had also recorded a loss in 2021 of €5,390,428.
The bulk of its expenses were recorded as administrative.
The company held tangible fixed assets worth €750,000 in 2022 and 2021.
Its registered office is 32 Molesworth Street in Dublin 2.
There are a total of 361 companies that use that building as their registered address, according to Vision Net.
The company’s audited financial statements for 2022 – the most recent available – state that Shannon LNG Ltd is a “development stage company engaged in the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) marine import terminal and combined heat and power (CHP) plant”.
The financial report provides insights into how the company viewed its prospects and the ‘uncertain’ circumstances surrounding its core project.
It details that was in the process of applying for necessary planning permits and that they would likely be subject to administrative or judicial challenges, including from “non-governmental groups that act on behalf of citizens”.
The recalls how in 2023, An Bord Pleanála denied it planning permission for its desired LNG terminal and power plant. “We are challenging this decision,” it said.
“The continued development of this project is uncertain and there are multiple risks, including regulatory risks, that could preclude the development of this project. However, management continues to assess all options in respect of future developments for the land held.”
The report identifies the principal risks and uncertainties facing Shannon LNG Ltd as being related to 1) planning, laws and regulations and 2) liquidity.
It was concerned that regulatory changes could alter the nature of the Irish gas market and undermine – or, potentially, enhance – the commerciality of the proposed terminal.
It also raised the risk of changes in the worldwide gas and electricity markets and competition from domestic supplies of natural gas that could put pressure on future gas prices in Ireland.
Securing a long-term LNG supply on terms acceptable to the company and securing funding for the development of the LNG project were also among its list of risks and uncertainties.
Finally, it said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and global inflationary pressures had generated energy pricing volatility that can have an adverse effect on market pricing on LNG and global demand for the company’s products, as well as its ability to remain competitive in the markets where it operates.
The immediate objective of the company directors was to “maintain the assets which have been developed during the company’s development phase while seeking to obtain planning permits and permission from An Bord Pleanála in Ireland and to secure contracts with downstream customers with volumes sufficient to support the development”.
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