Greenpark Energy Seeks Coal Bed Methane in North Yorkshire
Greenpark Energy Ltd has started exploratory drilling in an effort to find coal-bed methane gas half-a-mile under a field in North Yorkshire.
The drilling work, which has been contracted to BDF, has been fully operational since last week, and has already reached a depth of about 510 metres, with a target of about 1,000 metres.
Greenpark hopes that the drilling will find the gas under the Haxby site, which is the company’s second CBM site in Yorkshire.
David Harper, executive vice president for land at Greenpark, said: “We are looking for a natural gas, which would go into the national gas distribution network. It is the same as we would use in our gas cookers at home.
“We have already drilled one hole at Wood Farm in Shipton--by-Beningbrough, this is the second and final one in the area for the time being.”
To access the gas, the company must drill deep into the ground, then along the coal seam, and can then be pumped to the national gas distribution network, via underground pipes.
Noise from the drill, which runs 24-hours a day, is contained by a specially-constructed wall of hay bales around the site, which muffles the sound of the work.
Derek Hunter, who is overseeing the drilling, said: “We have been to see people living nearby and told them to get in touch with any queries or concerns.
“Nobody has been in touch since we started. We get most of the vibration here on site.”
Greenpark Energy has interests in approximately 3,000 km² located onshore in the United Kingdom, which it claims is the largest onshore acreage position of any oil and gas company operating in the United Kingdom.
The company has pursued UK test and appraisal drilling operations since 2007, having to date completed six vertical test wells and two horizontal pilot production wells which the company reports have been flow tested and which have demonstrated commercial flow rates.
Greenpark plans to develop its UK CBM licenses on an accelerated basis, with initial CBM production as early as the second half of 2012.
Source: York Press