Bulgaria depends almost wholly on Russia for its fuel for energy. It uses natural gas which is piped through the Ukraine, giving Bulgaria the double insecurity of energy supplies. First Russia may decide not to supply natural gas and secondly the Ukraine might decide to turn off the pipeline. That energy insecurity (similar insecurities exist in many countries) has caused Bulgaria to consider fracking shale to extract embedded methane as a means of being less energy dependent, but having considered it, Bulgaria is thinking of reconsidering it.
In North East Bulgaria there seems to be large potential deposits of natural gas in an area of nearly 1700 square miles. In principle the Bulgaria government were minded to permit Chevron to exploit these and obtain the gas by drilling and then injecting into the shale a mixture to sand, water and chemical to release the gas, which would then be captured and piped. Many Bulgarians are worried about the environmental impact of this process. It is clear that existing laws and fracking practices are insufficient to protect the water supplies.
So after much agitation by environmentalists the government has decided to call a halt on the project. It has withdrawn Chevron’s five year permit to explore for gas by fracking and will not reinstate it until it is sure that commonly used shale gas drilling methods of hydraulic fracking are environmentally safe.
All of this shows that however desperate you are for energy, no one wants to have plenty of energy which costs the price of contaminated water.
Filed under: energy Tagged: | Bulgaria, bulgarians, Chevron, east bulgaria, fracking, gas drilling, methane exploration
