Northern Ireland Gas Search Draws Interest of Locals

Activities by the independent gas storage and petroleum exploration company, InfraStrata, has piqued the interest and concern amongst residents of Ballyclare, Northern Ireland.

Ballyclare became the subject of a countywide search for petroleum and gas during the past week as a seismic survey was conducted in the town searching for underground fuel reserves.

The hundreds of metres of orange cable used in the survey that lined the streets of Ballyclare attracted the attention of the public leaving many questioning its purpose.

The survey was being conducted by InfraStrata which holds petroleum exploration licence PL1/10 across County Antrim ranging from central Larne to the edge of Lough Neagh, covering an area of 663 kilometres.

InfraStrata is the operator of the licence and holds a 30% direct interest, and an additional net 20% interest via a shareholding in partner company IS E&P Limited (40%). The other partners in the licence are Nautical Petroleum (20%) and Terrain Energy (10%). The initial licence term is five years with a decision on drilling a well required within three years.

InfraStrata is targeting the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone, the reservoir in the giant Morecambe Bay gasfield in the East Irish Sea Basin. Secondary targets are sandstone reservoirs within the Permian and Carboniferous sequences. Although no deep wells have been drilled in the central part of the Larne-Lough Neagh Basin, potential Carboniferous oil and gas source rocks have been identified in wells drilled on the margins of the basin for coal exploration.

Commenting on the survey, Andrew Hindle, CEO of InfraStrata said: "It is anticipated that the seismic survey will be completed at the end of October. The processing and the initial interpretation of the data are expected to be finalised during Q1 2012.

“The focus of the survey is a large intra-basinal high between the Larne and Lough Neagh sub-basins. We hope the results will lead to the drilling of an exploratory well during the second half of 2012."

Further exploration of positive survey results could potentially lead to the controversial practice of 'fracking' in the area.