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L'industrie gazière et la haute finance continuent de tisser leur toile implacablement. aujourd'hui, ils jettent leur dévolu sur l'Irlande avec semble-t-il l'accord "facile" du gouvernement.

Témoin, ce message reçu d'une militante irlandaise.

Dear all,

I’ve been informed that the Irish government has granted licences to three companies to search for shale gas. The licenses cover large areas of the north west and south west of Ireland; Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal. Fermanagh is included, but under different jurisdiction. A third licence covers an area including Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Cork.

I’ve been informed by the Dutch protest group of Willem Jan Atsma, that the Irish protests are starting to get organised. Maybe you can help to spread the link below to the Irish petition in your networks.

Kind regards,

Tineke Aarts

The petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-hydraulic-fracturing-for-natural-gas-in-ireland.html

Map of area offered to Tamboran Resources PTY Ltd

Map of area offered to the Lough Allen Natural Gas Company Ltd

Map of area offered to Enegi Oil Plc

Cet article paru dans irishtimes.com

Gas drilling permits for Lough Allen area given

RONAN McGREEVY

TWO COMPANIES have been granted licences to explore an area in Lough Allen where it is thought there may be large reserves of natural gas.

The Lough Allen Natural Gas Company (Langco) and Australian-based Tamboran Resources have been given onshore petroleum licences to explore the area which takes in parts of Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Cavan and Fermanagh.

The area is known to geologists as the northwest carboniferous basin.

The licence will allow the companies to undertake shallow drilling to a depth of 200m (650ft) and carry out technical studies to ascertain whether the gas is commercially viable.

If initial studies prove successful, the companies will have first option on a more expensive exploration licence which would be a step closer to extracting gas.

Langco believes there is 9.4 trillion cubic sq ft of gas or the energy equivalent of 1.5 billion barrels of oil in the area. This has a notional value of €94 billion at existing prices and could be considerably more by the time gas could be extracted from the ground.

The company’s managing director, Dr Martin Keeley, cautioned against premature expectations.

He said the only thing certain was that there was gas present as successive studies had shown. But they were a long way off from knowing whether it was worth extracting.

He distinguished between the resource number, which is the amount of gas in the ground, and the reserve number, the amount that is extractable.

The two are often widely different.

“Only a small percentage of it might ever be extracted. We are still at too early a stage to get overexcited,” he said.

“We will be taking a big risk trying to find out. But we know it’s there, which helps. Natural gas has already been found. The issue is one of economics and into that must be factored all necessary precautions to preserve and protect the environment and community,” he added.

Previous attempts were found to have been economically unviable, but the company believes that the rising price of gas and new technology could now make it a potentially viable proposition.

If the initial explorations are successful, the companies intend to return to the Petroleum Affairs Division of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and seek an exploration licence.

However, this is a process that is at least 2½ years away.

Dr Keeley said there would be no question of deep drilling a beauty spot. “It would never be considered, nor would it be allowed to [and] rightly so.”

Last week the department also granted London-based oil exploration company Enegi Oil an onshore petroleum licensing option for the Clare Basin, an area which covers all of Clare and part of Kerry and Limerick.

The company believes there is shale gas similar to that found in Newfoundland, Canada. Both areas were joined together hundreds of millions of years ago.

Chief executive Alan Minty said they were investing up to €650,000 in the initial exploration of the area.

He said they would apply for exploration licences should the work programme identify prospective targets.