Gas exploration company Crogga has told a meeting of Garff Commissioners that the company would like to begin drilling and extracting gas next summer.

However, while this its is hope, it is not considered a certainty.

Mark Pearce, a director of the company, was invited to speak to Garff Commissioners at its most recent board meeting.

If everything goes as planned, the company will be drilling off the coast of Maughold.

During the meeting, Mr Pearce told the commissioners and other people who rocked up, that other products could be manufactured from the gas such as hydrogen, which is likely to play a key role in our transition to net zero in the coming decades.

Minutes from the meeting say: ‘The former investigations undertaken by BP in the 1980s were noted. At that time one trillion cubic feet of gas was identified. Mr Pearce stated that Crogga anticipated an initial extraction of 100 million cubic feet of gas per year rising to around 300 million cubic feet in subsequent years.

‘If Crogga did go ahead and extract gas, the Isle of Man Government has insisted that an element of renewable energy production be incorporated. To provide this Crogga would be working with a renewable energy company who would seek to provide a ‘small’ wind farm at an as yet undecided location.

‘The extracted gas could be piped into the current pipeline running from Scotland via Isle of Man to Ireland, or it could be shipped as liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to Barrow in Furness or another suitable port – it was not intended to land LPG by ship on Manx shores.’

While Crogga has permission to go exploring for gas, the licence and permission will be terminated by 2048 in order to meet the government’s 2050 date for net zero.

While the scheme has its opponents, the company says it would benefit the island through the government’s share of VAT once production gets underway.

The meeting’s minutes add: ‘Mr Pearce explained how the gas would be extracted. Surface rigs would be in place initially and then periodically for maintenance for up to thirty days; but for much of the time the gas would be extracted through undersea manifolds and no equipment would be visible, he stated.

‘Mr Pearce stated that Crogga would like to begin drilling and when possible extracting gas in the summer of 2023, but this timing was dependent on many variable factors. Full Environmental Impact Assessments would need to be undertaken. Further seismic and other modelling surveys would also have to take place.’

While he was asked about the island’s biosphere status, Mr Pearce said this is a matter for the island’s politicians, not the business itself.

The minutes added: ‘Mr Pearce summarised the position by stating that at this stage options and their details were still being considered: there was much left to investigate. A range of factors would dictate the progress of the project. Mr Pearce intimated that many of the factors were variable and ‘out of the control of Crogga’. These factors would be resolved in due course. The variables could impact on timings and the companies wish to begin extraction in summer 2023 was not a certainty.