Transition Derry

Tackling Peak Oil, Climate Change and Economic Breakdown

Protect our Coast and Glens (from Fracking)

Hello and Happy New Year!

This is an update from the community group, Protect our Coast and Glens regarding the proposed exploratory drill by Infrastrata Ltd. in the Woodburn Forest, Carrickfergus.

On this project Infrastrata are being allowed to drill to a depth of 2000m only 400m from a major drinking water reservoir which supplies Carrickfergus, Newtownabbey, Islandmagee and parts of Belfast. NI Water have leased the land to Infrastrata for this drill.

Infrastrata will carry out work during the actual drill 24/7 for approx 40 days. This is very close to several homes and due to a loophole in Northern Ireland planning law they do not need planning permission for this work, it will be carried out under Permitted Development (PDR). This would not happen in the rest of the UK.

Although Infrastrata have stated that they do not intend to carry out High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing at this well they do state on their website that they are hoping for a considerable amount of oil.

If this concerns you please do read the template letter we have provided below, feel free to edit to suit your circumstances and please contact the ministers suggested with your concerns.

Thank you!

private.office@detini.gov.uk

private.office@doeni.gov.uk

waterpolicy@drdni.gov.uk

FAO.

Minister A Foster DETI

Minister M. H. Durkan DOE

Minister D Kennedy DRD

I am writing with respect to the Infrastrata licence PL1/10.

I would like you to re-examine:

1. The financial and technical viability of the partner’s within this license

2. The appropriateness of PDR granted to Infrastrata for the Woodburn Forest site; and

3. The procedures which governed the allocation of the license, including the interaction/co-operation of government departments and consultation of people living in the area.

The operator for PL1/10 is Infrastrata. Its share in the license is constantly changing (8 times so far) and is now very diminished. The first set of figures represents change No. 7 and the second the most recent change No. 8.

Consortium (No. 7)

InfraStrata ( operator) 20.83%

Larne Oil & Gas Ltd 50.00%

Brigantes (40% InfraStrata 16.67%

Terrain 12.50%

Consortium H (No. 8)

Larne Oil & Gas Ltd 33.33%

InfraStrata PLC 20.83%

New Partners (To be announced) 16.67%

Brigantes Energy (40% InfraStrata) 16.67%

Terrain Energy Ltd 12.50%

DETI's Guidance for Applicants requires that: ' DETI must be confident that any applicant that is granted a petroleum Licence is likely to continue in sound financial health for the foreseeable future.

Each Applicant must therefore demonstrate its basic financial viability. DETI must apply financial checks to individual companies ('Licence Partners') within an Applicant group so each company must provide its own audited accounts'

As the new applicant group includes an unknown partner, PL1/10 does not conform to this requirement and so the license should be rescinded immediately.

If DETI will not rescind the licence, could your office please state why DETI is acting in clear contravention of its own regulations.

Infrastrata is a company with a limited track record in exploration and no production experience. The company is made up six directors who seem to have been involved with numerous companies many of which were only in business for a short time. The track record of Larne Oil and Gas Ltd (formed July 7th 2014) is equally concerning. It would seem this company is made up of just three directors who over the past nineteen years have formed and quickly dissolved a total of twenty five companies.

Given all the licensee changes I feel it is in the public interest and incumbent on the Minister to make a statement to the assembly on the administration of this licence, which is constantly changing ownership. The Minister may have a duty to develop oil and gas resources as part of her portfolio, but must now show evidence that the proper due diligence was carried out for each of the previous changes to the licensees.

With respect to the permitted development already agreed, one could argue that the company who submitted the proposal is no longer the same company that will develop the proposal. This brings into question liability in the event of an accident, and calls into question the permitted development proposal and its worth and suitability for this sort of oil and gas development.

We are therefore calling on the Department of the Environment to rescind the rights currently granted.

NI Water agreed to lease “ a small portion of Woodburn Forest” for drilling for gas or oil to the depth of 2 km. That makes NI Water as a landowner responsible for possible, predictable or not yet known damages that can be reasonably expected to occur in the vicinity of the well-site, roads, streams, private wells, and the two ASSIs.

To agree to a construction of 3.28 acres wellsite inside a drinking water catchment area (and instead of forest) stands in direct contradiction of NI Water’s own aim which is to “reduce the production of climate change gases from our operations”

NI water also has a project known as SCAMP (Sustainable Catch Management Planning NI) to ensure that water falling within a catchment area is as clean as possible. The trees around the Woodburn reservoir are not merely decorative but an intrinsic part of a well established mechanism which help preserve a clean water supply. Has the addition of an oil/ gas exploration well been reviewed under the drinking water safety plan (DWSPS) and against the NI Water Corporate Social Responsibility code?

According to the Aarhus convention it is our right to be included in decision making that impacts where and how we live. The authorities are required to consider the public’s views. However the stakeholders/ratepayers of NI, and specifically those who live and work in Newtownabbey, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Whitehead and Islandmagee who drink this reservoir water, were not made aware of or given any input into the decision before it was made. So far all we have had is an Information leaflet sparingly distributed, and an exhibition telling us what Infrastrata plan to do. This is NOT the same as consultation. In the rest of the UK this proposed development at Woodburn Forest would have required planning consent. NI law is allowing a highly contentious project to proceed under permitted development. This loophole needs to be closed immediately.

The aim of zero discharge is of course admirable and but it is not working in Canada where it is supposed to be in force for the oil sands industry. The tailings ponds leak thousands of litres per day via ground water according to calculations. See, for example the peer reviewed paper ‘Profiling Oil Sands Mixtures from Industrial Developments’ at http://www.thetyee.ca/ Documents/2014/02/21/Profiling-Oil-Sands-Mixtures.pdf

Worse still, NI is known for increasingly more frequent periods of intense rainfall and during such episodes flood defences have been breached; it is simply not sensible to say this could not happen in the case of PL1/10.

While zero waste attempts to address the potential for surface spills, it does not address air-borne pollution, vibration, non-stop light, traffic and most worryingly the problem of below ground leaks.

The drill will travel through layers of rock containing aquifers and the issue here will be well integrity.

I would draw your attention to the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority who have reported a gas well failure rate of 18% and to Schlumberger, the world's leading supplier of technology to the oil and gas industry. They have noted that 60% of offshore gas wells leaked after 30 years. Leaking wells is a structural engineering issue not something that can be covered by regulations. Whilst the industry admits to the huge scale of leaking wells, I am surprised that Infrastrata, a company who have never actually produced any oil or gas can give such confident assurances regarding aquifer protection. Strategic Planning treats the issue as one exploratory finite borehole, ignoring the wider changes in the land use. InfraStrata openly states on their website the asset of this site with estimated 40 million barrels of oil.

DETI, NIEA, DRDNI (NI Water) and the DoE have promoted and approved a process that has its own dynamics and has the very real potential to industrialize this rural area and cause irreparable damage which will be reaped by future generations: damage to the environment, to the reservoirs, to the ground our private water wells are in, on which our houses stand and where our trees currently grow to keep our air pure. On shore oil/ gas production, even at the exploratory stages is increasingly being linked with health issues, yet DETI has instigated an exploration programme for NI without a health impact assessment.

I object.

Yours Sincerely.

2. PL1/10: InfraStrata plc, Cairn Energy, Brigantes and Terrain Energy Ltd; Central Larne - Lough Neagh Basin

License 2: Co. Antrim/InfraStrata/Woodburn Forest Carrickfergus InfraStrata has stated that it will be proceeding with an exploratory drill at a depth of 2000m, 400m uphill of North Woodburn Reservoir, Carrickfergus. The reservoirs in Woodburn Forest supply drinking water to Carrickfergus, Newtownabbey, parts of Belfast, Islandmagee, Greenisland and Whitehead. InfraStrata have been granted ‘permitted development rights’ to come on site and start drilling at any time. Due to the potential threat this poses to so many peoples drinking water it is imperative that people are made aware of this drill.