Parkside – PEDL 193

This area is located in South Lancashire, to the Southeast of the old Parkside Colliery area of the South Lancashire coalfields and Northeast of Warrington. The area was awarded to a partnership of Nexen and IGas as part of the 13th round onshore licensing round announced by the Secretary of State on 28 May 2008.

Geologically, the licence is on the southern margin of the Rossendale anticline and on the western margin of the Pennine Axis, and targets the unworked Coal Bed Methane (CBM) potential of the southern extension of the South Lancashire coalfield which is proven, by prior NCB boreholes, to extend for at least 5 km to the south east.

The oldest rocks present in the area belong to the upper part of the Millstone Grit Series of Upper Carboniferous age and are followed conformably by the Lower and Middle Coal Measures. These geologic strata consist of alternating shales, sandstones and coal seams. The northern and western area of the licence includes part of the underground workings of the abandoned South Lancashire Coalfield. The workings demonstrate the presence of multiple thick (>1m) coal seams within the Upper Carboniferous, Westphalian, Pennine Coal Measures. Exploration work carried out by the former NCB confirms the regional structure of the Coal Measures as gently dipping to the south (at depths up to and exceeding 1,200m) and being broken up by a series of normal faults.

It is the intention of the partnership to confirm the CBM production potential of the licence by drilling a well into the application area from an onshore surface location, contingent upon achieving the required Planning Permission. Some potential well sites have been identified and these will be further developed once the licensing process is complete.

Equipoise Solutions Ltd is currently in the process of preparing an independent GIIP assessment for this licence.