Bulgaria Alters Shale Moratorium

The Bulgarian government has changed the wording of legislation enacted to ban shale activity following pressure from explorers who said the restrictions were stymieing conventional exploration activities.

The changes, which were enacted yesterday by a parliamentary committee tasked with shale gas issues, are enacted in order to ensure traditional oil and gas exploration is protected, the chairman of the committee said.

The removed provision of the legislation "created barriers for extraction and conventional gas, as well as for storage of natural gas," Noinvite reports the  the chairman of the committee, MEP Dian Chervenkondev, as saying.

The change sees the removal of a limit on ground pressure, which several companies had said impeded gas and oil exploration that did not utilise hydraulic fracturing.

While this provision will make it easier for companies to pursue conventional exploration and production activities, Mr. Chervenkondev said that the changes did not mean that shale activity or hydraulic fracture stimulation was now permitted in the country.

"The current point of the moratorium imposed on January 24, 2012 is to prohibit the introduction of fluids into the ground pressure of more than 20 atmospheres, and that hampered production of conventional gas," he said. "We have now dropped this point, but have not permitted exploration and production of shale gas hydro-fracking technology."