Continuing Expertise in the East Irish Sea

Rhyl Gas Field, East Irish Sea

RISC Advisory’s UK team has a long-standing connection to the East Irish Sea. Some years ago, our team published a technical paper on the Rhyl gas field in the Geological Society of London’s Petroleum Geology Conference Series and it later featured in the book The Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 years of learning. The paper explored a new structural model for Rhyl, integrating geological principles with advanced seismic imaging and received praise from respected industry peers for its technical depth and insight.

“Your Rhyl paper was a super example of what a combination of determination, high quality science and integrated subsurface description can do…”
— Mike Bowman, Professor of Petroleum Engineering

“…good science, carefully applied, can still produce real value in the exploration of the East Irish Sea Basin.”
— Philip Mulholland

Recent Achievements

Today, we’re proud to continue our work in the region through annual reserves audits for Spirit Energy, covering key East Irish Sea assets including South Morecambe, North Morecambe, and Rhyl. These fields make up the Morecambe Hub which first began production from South Morecambe in 1985. North Morecambe came online in 1994 and Rhyl, which was discovered in 2009, was brought into production in 2013. Gas from these fields is processed at the Barrow Gas Terminals before entering the National Transmission System.

Significance of the East Irish Sea

The Morecambe Hub, once supplying 20% of the UK’s domestic gas demand, remains an important part of Spirit Energy’s portfolio. After 40 years of production, our independent assessments support Spirit Energy’s goal of producing the asset through to the end of the decade.

Our ongoing work reflects the enduring relevance of these mature fields and the value of robust technical evaluation in supporting informed decision-making.

The Rhyl Gas Field Paper

Interested in the original Rhyl Field paper? Download the abstract here or you can access the full paper through the Lyell Collection.

The book, The Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 years of learning can be purchased through the Lyell Collection.