High Hopes for Irish Shales
The granting of licences to the Lough Allen Natural Gas Company (Langco) and Australian-based Tamboran Resources to explore the Northwest Ireland Carboniferous Basin in Lough Allen, has sparked discussion over the environmental effects related to shale gas drilling.
Langco and Tamboran have been given licences to explore the area that takes in parts of Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Cavan and Fermanagh.
The licences will allow the companies to undertake shallow drilling to a depth of 200m (650ft) and carry out technical studies to ascertain whether the gas is commercially viable.
Langco believes the Northwest Ireland Carboniferous Basin holds 9.4 trillion cubic sq ft of gas or the energy equivalent of 1.5 billion barrels of oil.
The first gas well in the area was drilled 50 years ago and the most recent in 2002. The gas there was deemed uncommercial until now, but fracking has transformed its prospects.
Richard Moorman, the chief executive of Tamboran estimates the chances of success at 75 per cent. “We have a good feeling about this,” he says.
Moorman said that extracting 10 per cent of the Lough Allen gas would constitute a reasonable return and that the drilling process would take at least a decade. In the coming months, the companies will take rock samples. If the initial explorations are successful, the companies intend to seek an exploration license. However, this is a process that is at least 2½ years away.
However, the controversy that has dogged shale gas development attempts throughout Europe is flaring in Ireland.
County Leitrim-based filmmaker Johnny Gogan hopes to put an end any shale gas development.
Gogan, who stood as a Green Party candidate in this year’s general election, wants a ban on fracking in Ireland and is organizing screenings of the controversial film Gasland for local audiences.
Michael Colreavy, Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas - the Irish Parliament) for the Sligo–North Leitrim constituency, plans to organize a screening of Gasland in Parliament.
“People who have to make these decisions have to be informed about it,” he says.
Drumshambo-based Fine Gael councillor, Enda McGloin, who this week met the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, to discuss the Lough Allen situation, says locals are concerned, but he warns that too many people are rushing to judgment before the facts have been heard.
“There were people in the room at the screening I was at who have political agendas. There was one guy over from Rossport. These people have already made up their minds about this,” he says.
Moorman says his company will start consulting local authorities next month. He promises to make himself available “24/7” to address concerns about fracking. “The good news is that everybody will know what we are doing. We will have a completely open process. There is no reason for any kind of secrecy around this.”
Moorman says that many of the problems caused by fracking in the US were a result of sloppy practice and loose regulation. Irish people can be reassured by the more stringent environmental standards that exist in Europe, he claims. “I would have every faith in Irish regulators. I say environmentalists are needed – they keep the companies doing the right thing.”
Shale gas activity in Ireland also extends to the Clare Basin, where Enegi Oil has also been granted an onshore petroleum licensing option for seeking the unconventional resource (Read More HERE).
Source: Irish Times