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Tuesday 20 September 2011

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[SECTION] - Shale Gas - General News [REGION] - Europe [COMMODITY] - Shale Gas News [RELATED STORY] - Elixir riding out French shale storm - French fraccing fracas ends in ban - Guillotine ready for French fraccers - Glass half full for Elixir investors [OTHER]

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Elixir to tough it out in France

Thursday, 14 July 2011 James McGrath

WHILE Elixir Petroleum managing director Andrew Ross admits a ban on hydraulic fracturing is a blow, he is optimistic that people will take the long view on the companys Moselle permit, east of Paris.
Earlier this month the French government banned the practice of hydraulic fracturing, making the companys Moselle Permit a predominately prospective unconventional play without the means to exploit it. However, while a hydraulic fracturing ban is in force, Ross told EnergyNewsBulletin the company could wait it out. The rocks havent changed, so theyll sit there and remain the same independent of the policy on fraccing, and we have a long licence term and we intend to maintain our position in the long term, he said.
Elixir Petroleum's Moselle permit

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Ross played a straight bat when EnergyNewBulletin asked him whether the French govern would, in time, reverse its decision, but he hoped the debate around hydraulic fracturing in France would be more balanced in the future. I think the discussion has never ceased, and the government had indicated that its still open to examining alternatives and really look at the space, he said. Theyve created a commission which is solely tasked with looking at developments both technologically and in terms of procedures [and] advances being made around the world. They need to report back annually to the government and to the parliament on advances in the area, so I think the conversation will continue on. Im hoping that a lot more facts and data will form part of that conversation and hopefully therell be a balanced debate rather than the unbalanced debate that can be had by the press. While the company and Ross were quite shocked by the extent of the ban, they insisted the conventional potential of the permit made it a good asset for the company. I was a little bit surprised, and we are somewhat disappointed, Ross said. We feel we have tremendous unconventional potential in our block, however we also have a very, very good conventional exploration potential. Weve been pursuing both of those play types in parallel, that means our focus is now on the conventional prospectivity of the block. The company had been looking at the coal seam gas potential of the permit, but has since ruled out that option, as coal seams which were thought to exist in the northeast of the permit were too deep to make the exercise economical. The company is planning to farm-out part of the permit, and while the key selling point of the deal has now been put on ice, Ross is optimistic about a deal being done. I dont think unconventional is entirely out of the question. It may be that people will take a long view on this, he said. Weve not yet had a chance to rethink our finance strategy at this point, but what well do once we come out with the resource estimate is come up with our exploration strategy for the conventional. A resource estimate for the permit, which will include estimates for the conventional and unconventional plays on the permit, is due later this quarter.

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