The National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) has operational responsibility for the day-to-day management of the State’s Strategic Oil Reserve. I am satisfied that the NORA Board fulfils its remit in the oversight and approval of expenditure within the Agency, including expenditure on storage contracts for both on-island and off-island storage. Subject to value for money, NORA is charged with seeking to maximise the level of stock held on the island of Ireland and to that end, it is actively pursuing a number of possible opportunities for additional on-island storage.
In relation to domestic oil and gas exploration, as outlined in the 2022 Policy Statement on Petroleum Exploration and Production, my Department no longer accepts new applications for petroleum authorisations for the exploration and extraction licences of natural gas or oil. This commitment was made effective immediately upon the previous Government taking office in June 2020, and the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 placed this commitment on a statutory basis.
Holders of existing authorisations are not affected by these changes and may apply to progress their authorisations through the usual licensing stages.
