Nottingham Post
By Dan Robinson
February 09, 2017
The company that holds a licence to
test Nottinghamshire land for shale gas says it will begin surveys in the
coming months – with a view to submitting planning applications for fracking
this year.
Ineos has a Government remit to carry out tests in
parts of the county, including in Sherwood Forest and the Clumber Park tourist
attraction.
Despite being denied permission for pre-fracking
surveys by the National Trust, which owns Clumber Park, the international
chemicals firm says it could take legal action.
But Ineos said it will not go ahead with fracking – a
controversial deep drilling method to extract oil or gas – without consulting
residents or planning permission.
It has yet to go public on sites in the county that it
is interested in but, in an interview with the Post, Ineos' shale operations
director Tom Pickering said: "We are looking in Nottinghamshire and will
start surveys this year.
"You could expect to see 10 planning applications
for vertical core wells across our entire licenced areas – some will definitely
be in Nottinghamshire but we don't know where yet.
"Clumber Park is within the licenced area and so
is part of Sherwood Forest, but all our applications have to go through the
planning process.
"Where there's an environmental designation,
we're conscious of that, and we recognise Sherwood Forest is a precious
landscape.
"We'll be spending a lot of time in the region so
there's a lot of opportunity for people to come and talk to us, and tell us
their concerns, because we're here to listen and help mitigate them."
Ineos was awarded a Petroleum Exploration and
Development Licence, which allows it to purse a range of oil and gas
exploration activities, from the Government in December 2015.
Its geographical area covers as far north as Sheffield
down to Eakring, just south of Ollerton, and the area also includes
Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Mansfield Woodhouse, Shirebrook, Worksop and the outskirts
of Retford.
The company must still gain permission from landowners
to carry out tests. They could come in the form of seismic surveys – which can
detect oil and gas through artificially-induced shockwaves into the earth – and
vertical "coring" drills that take samples of the earth.
Test results will then determine whether Ineos applies
to councils for planning permission to set up fracking wells and begin drilling
to a depth of one to two miles, which could begin by mid-2018…
To access the complete
news,
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario