LYNDHURST, UK: Ineos Group Ltd said it has been awarded three new petroleum exploration and development licenses covering a total area of approximately 250 km2 in the East Midlands. This additional acreage cements Ineos position as one of the UK’s leading shale gas businesses, it said.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) awarded these new licenses in the first of a number of announcements from its 14th licensing round.
“Shale gas is a once in a lifetime opportunity that the UK cannot afford to miss. North Sea oil created great wealth for the UK and shale gas can do the same. It will help secure manufacturing, deliver investment and create thousands of jobs, provide us with greater energy security, and help us to meet our climate change obligations using our own home-grown source of energy,” said Gary Haywood, Ineos Shale CEO.
Ineos Shale is Ineos’ new on shore oil and gas exploration and production business. The business made its first move into the shale exploration one year ago on the 18th August with the purchase of a share of the shale section of PEDL 133 from Dart Energy. It has grown rapidly, and now has the third largest portfolio of shale gas assets in the UK.
“We are keen to move quickly to evaluate the potential of this resource, and determine if we can economically produce gas from our licenses. This will depend on the pace of planning approval,” said Haywood.
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