I attended a public Information Day today 21st June in Swanage run by a company called Infrastrata. They are intending to drill a petroleum exploratory well at California Quarry just south of Swanage. The well will be steered from onshore to offshore to a depth of 1.5 miles below the sea.
This is what I found out: There are several layers of rock above the Purbeck fault. About a mile and a half down there is Sandstone Rock. This is less dense and has pockets of methane gas in it. Infrastrata are proposing to construct a temporary well site to drill an exploratory borehole. If they then encounter hydrocarbons (by which I presume they mean the gas) the drill rig will be demobilised from the site whilst testing is undertaken to assess economic viability. That being the case they would then have to apply for planning permission for the project to go ahead. If they do not find the hydrocarbons then all the structures, buildings and enclosures will be removed and the site restored to its former condition. (I consider it is unlikely that the company would invest in the exploratory drilling unless they were fairly certain of what they were likely to find).
I was assured that this process will not be “fracking” so the public have nothing to be concerned about. I did ask about the rock that will be drilled out. It seems to me that if we remove the sandstone rock then the other rock will just sink down to fill the gap. The gentleman there reassured me however, that the sandstone rock will not be removed and the gas will just be pumped out of the structure. I asked what would replace the gas and it was explained that water would rush in to fill the gaps. At this point I could have done with some backup as my brain ran out of questions to ask. I have thought of a few since then and luckily I did get an email address that I could email any further questions to [email protected]
The gas could be a valuable commodity to Dorset. As we are not fully investing in the research for sustainable energy at the moment we are at some point likely to run out of energy before there are plans put into place to keep the lights on. We are consuming the natural resources of our planet at a rate of knots right now so fuel for energy is becoming ever more expensive, especially as it has to be transported over such massive distances. I can see that any source of extra energy might be used to plug some of the gaps before we reach the crisis point and of course there will be some large companies and maybe one or two politicians that will be able to make a wad.
It does seem to me though that we don’t fully understand the consequences of removing this natural resource from our bay. Will it affect our water table and pollute our environment? If not what effect is this drilling likely to have on the wildlife which currently lives in the sea? What will the gas be pumped out with? Will it create jobs in the local economy and will they be long term sustainable jobs? How long can the gas sustain us? Will the profits be used to come up with solutions to enable sustainable energy for the planets future? So many questions I may be keeping that email address quite busy for a while….
Tina Scotney
