| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Colombia’s Ecopetrol to Apply for “Fracking” Permits
Colombian state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol said it will apply for the environmental permits needed to employ hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in its exploration work.
Ecopetrol will request the licenses at the “exploratory level” and plans to begin using that technique at the Coyote, Prometeo and Iguana wells in the Andean nation’s Middle Magdalena region, CEO Javier Gutierrez said at a press conference.
Fracking is controversial in many countries because it involves pumping a pressurized fluid – usually composed of water, sand and chemicals – into a shale formation to create a fracture in the rock layer and release trapped petroleum or natural gas.
But Gutierrez said the technique is “not bad per se.”
“Let’s not condemn it just to condemn it. We want to do it well,” Gutierrez added, noting that fracking “is a technology that is designed to be carried out and applied the right way and the government has been doing a responsible job in that sense.”
In that regard, Mines and Energy Minister Tomas Gonzalez said Colombia’s technical and environmental regulations establish a “framework for carrying out the environmental-impact assessments and requesting licenses for exploration using hydraulic fracturing technology.”
“They have to undergo the environmental studies, show the authorities that they’re meeting the requirements (contained) in the regulations and only then can they be granted the license,” Gonzalez said.
Early this month, the Colombian government gave the green light to fracking as it seeks to unlock trapped natural gas reserves.
Deputy Mines and Energy Minister Orlando Cabrales said in making the announcement that the government had established a strict regulatory framework after a “very rigorous” two-year process.
He added that companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and Ecopetrol would need to apply for environmental permits and that, if they are approved, could begin exploration work using hydraulic fracturing next year.
Published in Latino Daily News
Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/colombias-ecopetrol-to-apply-for-fracking-permits/31216#When:21:09:40Z
