The UK-based company which hopes to engage in the controversial practice of fracking in parts of West Clare has applied for permission to carry out further tests.
Enegi Oil is seeking an Exploration Licence from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, for the next stage of tests to see if a 500 square kilometre area of the Clare Basin is home to sufficient quantities of shale gas.
Independently verified test results, announced in November, show the area is home to between 1.5 and nearly four trillion cubic feet of such gas and officials from the company say they regard the Clare basin as ‘highly prospective’.
The company hopes to use the controversial practice of fracking or hydraulic fracturing to extract this gas –
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has previously stated that ‘any application for a license that involves any form of such drilling would be subject to a full Environmental Impact Assessment – including a Public Consultation Phase.’
