A landscape in county Clare (cc wikimedia commons Eirian Evans)
In a recent statement, EnegiOil, an oil company with licencing options in County Clare, stated that they have found “recoverable” gas reserves in Clare and that they intend to apply for a full Exploration Licence, wrote a recent article in the Irish Examiner. It also has been confirmed by the Department for Energy that they have received relevant documents from Enegi Oil and Tamboran on or before the deadline of November 30th. Completed applications must be submitted before the end of February.
This development confirms the situation already publicised by Good Energies Alliance. Whereas the Irish Government have said that no hydraulic fracturing will be permitted before the new EPA report is “published and considered” in 2014, there is no commitment by the Government to impose a moratorium on issuing licences before then. Exploration Licences allowing deep drilling and flow testing of gas could still be issued.
“This could lead to a disastrous scenario,” said Dr Aedín McLoughlin, Good Energies Alliance member. “Once this particular juggernaut is set going, it would be nearly impossible to stop it. Exploration without fracking could be followed by a permit for hydraulic fracturing later. If the results are good, commercial extraction with hundreds of pads, thousands of wells and all the resulting environmental and health issues, will follow. An exploration licence grants the company rights to the petroleum products in the licencing area. We in Good Energies Alliance are lobbying the Government to impose a moratorium on the issuing of ALL further licences for on-shore shale gas exploration as a step towards a full ban on fracking.
Unfortunately, we cannot be complacent on this issue at all. At a recent session of the EU Parliament, all Fine Gael MEPs voted against an amendment calling for a moratorium. All Labour MEPs voted for it, as did Marian Harkin and Pat the Cope Gallagher. Campaigners must keep up the pressure on the Government to have a united voice in opposing fracking in Ireland.
If the government allows this to go forward, it will destroy Ireland.,,on all levels. It must not be allowed. Money should be spent on renewable truly clean energy sources. Not oil and gas. Ireland is too small a country to not be destroyed by such exploration and chemicals.
who is the author of this article? How do they know Tamboran are applying for a licence? Tamboran have told a Dail joint comittee by letter that they do not intend to apply for an exploration licence before their dead line expires under the terms of their option licence, because they wanted to wait and see what the EPA research report might tell them about what would have to go into environmental impact assement statements please whoever has written this could you check your facts and come back to us. This is critical information, well done for finding out about… Read more »
I (Aedín) wrote this press release. This is correct information. Tamboran and EnegiOil have submitted documents (presumably the desk-top studies referred to in the licencing options) to the Petroleum Affairs Division of Department of Energy as the first stage of their application for an Exploration Licence. Tamboran in their letter to the Dail committee said “We expect the project will be allowed to advance, at least to the test well stage, once (these) regulatory and planning requirements are known… unlikely to be before 2015”. They would have to have an exploration licence to do a test well. By the end… Read more »