IGas to start Ellesmere Port drilling

ENERGY firm IGas, now the UK’s largest shale gas player, expects to start drilling at its site in Ellesmere Port next month.

Last winter the firm’s exploratory site in Barton Moss, Salford, became a focal point for anti-fracking protestors who established a camp and disrupted the delivery of supplies.

Ellesmere Port is another exploratory site that will help the firm calculate the levels of shale gas in its licence area. It is using an existing planning permission which does not allow it to frack.

Environmentalists claim fracking, which involves pumping water and chemicals deep under ground at high pressure, can pollute water supplies and the atmosphere.

But the industry, and the Government, argues the gas is essential for the UK’s energy security and could drive a massive new industry, worth £33bn over the next 15 years. The company is still analysing the results from Barton and is planning further seismic surveys across the North West.

It said today: “The exploratory work undertaken to date, together with offset well data, has given the company confidence to design an initial hydraulic fracture program for the first few wells in the area. This will prove invaluable for future planning applications for potential shale wells and the ability to demonstrate the commerciality of gas extraction from these deep formations.”