Buccleuch Group

Coal bed methane exploration

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Buccleuch is working with Britain's biggest unconventional gas explorer IGas.

From Buccleuch's website:

At Canonbie, we have been working for some years on the possibility of extracting coal bed methane, an unconventional gas which is a substitute for natural gas and can be extracted without recourse to hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The aim, if environmental concerns can be satisfactorily addressed and sufficient reserves confirmed, is to purify it and insert it into the National Transmission System (NTS) pipeline, which runs through the Eskdale and Liddesdale Estate by means of a compression site.

We are very much at the exploration stage of this opportunity, which we are working on with Igas, and much remains to be done to ensure these new technologies can be deployed safely and in an environmentally sensitive manner. Buccleuch is working closely with community groups, local and national elected officials and environmental agencies to ensure regulatory framework and enforcement structures are in place so everyone can proceed with confidence. We believe that this, potentially, is a significant national resource and therefore, the challenge is to find the right way to move forward. If this can be achieved, then Buccleuch will endeavour to develop economic activity locally which can benefit from access to cheap energy and create new and appropriate economic development in the region.

The firm is also a major shareholder in Five-Quarter Energy Holdings.