Oil well plans focus for public meeting

Plans to drill an exploration well in Woodburn Forest came under scrutiny during a public meeting at the Whitecliff Inn last week.

Organised by environmental group No Fracking Northern Ireland, the event focused on the impact of oil and gas exploration on small communities with a free screening of 2010 documentary The Pipe.

The meeting came just days after Carrickfergus Borough Council received a letter from Infrastrata, an oil exploration and gas storage company which in 2011 was granted a licence to carry out studies in a large portion of south-east County Antrim.

Following the successful completion of two seismic studies in the area, the company outlined its plans to drill the well at a site in Woodburn Forest, indicating that the process of hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ would not be involved.

Speaking to the Times last week, No Fracking NI’s Dawn Patterson indicated there was a healthy turnout at the meeting on Thursday evening. “There were between 30 and 40 people who came along and there was a lot of interest,” she said.

“We had a mix of people who were already very knowledgeable about these issues to people who had only just heard about the plans for Woodburn Forest and wanted to find out more. We watched some of the documentary and got a discussion going.

“People were raising a broad range of concerns, not only about the Infrastrata but about other companies who had plans for the surrounding area such as [energy storage group] Gaelectric.

“Before the announcement from Infrastrata at the beginning of last week, we have had a really hard time trying to find out what their plans for the area are - we knew there was going to be a well drilled but we couldn’t find out where exactly it was going to be.

“Infrastrata are saying it’s exploration they’re carrying out, but when the well is drilled, they can still apply for planning permission to change its use.

“We believe that if there was an oil field under Carrickfergus, it would have been discovered long before this, but if it’s in the rocks then the only way to get it is through fracking.

“We need to know what exact procedures they are going to be using; we’ve been told that at the moment it’s exploration but it’s what happens after that process that is of most concern to us.”

The group is currently planning a further public meeting in Carrickfergus, which is expected to take place after Easter.

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