Ross Stewart Campbell (RSC) from The Oil Council: Andrew, many thanks for joining us to share your thoughts on today’s markets. To cover off introductions can you quickly introduce yourself and IGas Energy?
Andrew Austin from IGas Energy (AA): Hi Ross, IGas Energy (LON:IGAS) is an unconventional gas business listed on AIM. All our assets are in the UK, principally across the North West of England. We have drilled seven wells to date and are currently producing from our pilot production site at Doe Green, situated between Liverpool and Manchester.
RSC: Looking first at the global picture of unconventional gas Andrew we’re seeing a growing number of new ventures shoot up across the globe following the ‘shale gale’ in the US and significant finds in Australia. Once considered a new industry fad unconventionals are now a new industry market in their own right. What are your thoughts on this increasing globalisation (and appreciation) of unconventional gas and Coal Bed Methane (CBM)? How large a market can unconventional gas become? And how large an impact are recent technological advancements having on the growth and development of the market?
AA: We’ve already seen the effect that Shale has had on the market for gas in North America reflected in the reduced number of LNG imports to the US. In Australia CBM has changed the landscape for gas to Asia by the sheer size and speed of its growth. In Europe currently there is something of a land grab occurring for unconventional gas and I am sure that it will form a material part of the supply mix here over the next decade.
RSC: We’ve witnessed massive investment in the development of unconventional and CBM supply chains in the US. How do the supply chains for CBM in other counties compare and how far advanced is the UK’s supply chain? What timeline are we looking at for the UK to build a sufficiently effective CBM supply chain?
AA: Clearly the supply chain is more developed in other countries. However there are currently a number of groups that are looking at establishing themselves as suppliers to the industry. We‘re now seeing rigs being ordered for use in the UK with service companies looking to now aggregate the drilling programs of the different players.
Furthermore we’re also seeing interest from the water drilling industry and construction firms looking to move into the…
