Our Northwest acreage has been the centre of much of our activity to date. The productive capacity of the coals has been established by our pilot production site at Doe Green and the ongoing energy export activities at this site. In addition to continuing to assess and model the subsurface we have now obtained planning permission for five production sites in the area ranging from Ellesmere Port in the west in PEDL 190 to the Trafford Centre in the east within PEDL 193. A significant proportion of this acreage is now also considered to have shale that has a very high potential to be hydrocarbon bearing.
Four oaks – PEDLs 145 and 116 This area is located both north and south of the Mersey, between Liverpool and Warrington.
Geologically, the area under licence is formed by strata of Carboniferous and Permo-Triassic age, gently dipping to the south and south-east. The British Geological Society maps show that these strata are cut by a number of northsouth striking normal faults, throwing to the east and west, creating a number of normal fault blocks and horsts. The Carboniferous Westphalian coal measures sequence outcrops to the north of the licences and were the principal coal measures exploited in the Lancashire coalfields. The dip of the strata places the Westphalian at depths greater than 6,500 feet to the very south of the licence. This depth has been adopted as the maximum depth for CBM exploitation in the independent GIIP estimates.
In PEDL 145 activity has been concentrated at Doe Green, a drill site located between Warrington and Widnes between the A562 and the Liverpool-to-Manchester railway line. Two wells were drilled at this site in the last quarter of 2006: one was extensively cored and logged, and a lateral leg was drilled from the other. Additional lateral legs have since been drilled and the well has been on long term production test for over a year with the gas being used to generate electricity which is exported via the grid. In 2009 the first well on the site was perforated and fracced. There are no commitments outstanding in relation to this licence and in January 2009 IGas Energy was granted an unconditional FDP (field development plan) covering much of the licence area, permitting commercial gas production and further securing licence interests.