There’s been debate in Dorset Eye about plans for oil and gas exploration at California Quarry near Swanage. Work was planned to start on site this winter, but the company responsible, InfraStrata plc, recently announced that the project is being postponed until next winter (2015/16). InfraStrata is holding a public information event on 27 October from 2-8pm in the Mowlem Theatre in Swanage for anyone who wants to learn more. In the meantime, here are some facts about the project from InfraStrata CEO Dr Andrew Hindle.
Project details:
InfraStrata has planning permission to drill from onshore at California Quarry to a prospect offshore deep beneath the seabed.
The project targets limestones and sandstones (not shale) and will use conventional methods, not hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
Before InfraStrata can carry out any drilling, it needs a licence to drill the onshore section of the project. It already holds a licence for the offshore area.
InfraStrata will apply for an onshore licence as part of the ongoing government’s UK 14th Landward Licensing Round. However, the 14th Round started much later than anticipated, hence the delay to the project.
The three-acre site for the exploratory well lies within California Quarry, southwest of Swanage in Dorset. It is on a previously quarried area of a working quarry away from residential areas and has been chosen carefully to minimise the impact on neighbours. It is screened by mature trees to the north and not overlooked by residential properties on the other three sides.
The project includes the construction of an enclosed well site compound within the three-acre site comprising a flat stone surface, soil screening, containment bunds and a security fence. Using conventional directional drilling, the well will reach a depth of approximately 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) below the sea to the south of the site.
There are three phases to the drilling process.
1. Construction of the wellsite – expected to take up to eight weeks. Scheduled for early winter 2015/16.
2. The assembly and installation of drilling equipment and facilities and drilling of the exploratory well – expected to take up to eight weeks and scheduled for next winter 2015/16.
3. Should oil or gas be encountered, the drilling rig would be demobilised and InfraStrata would undertake a long-term test with the well to establish whether it could produce oil or gas commercially using conventional methods only. Any subsequent development of the site would require planning permission. If no commercial oil or gas are encountered, then the well will be plugged and abandoned and the wellsite restored to its original state.
Dr Andrew Hindle, CEO, InfraStrata plc
