The new chief executive of Crogga has insisted that drilling for gas off the island’s coast makes sense as part of a transition to net zero.
Richard Hubbard, formerly of BP, has been on the island this week as the company confirmed it hopes to begin drilling next year.
Speaking to Isle of Man Today and Gef, Mr Hubbard said the potential well, which would be the first drilled in Manx territorial waters, is a ‘milestone’ for the island.
He said: ‘With regard to how confident we are [that there is gas], it is not a certainty, but I think it is pretty good or I wouldn’t be sitting here.
‘I know about it from my BP work and there has only ever been one well drilled there, it was 40 years ago by BP and it found gas, so no one is doubting that it found gas, but at the time it wasn’t known how big it was, the well wasn’t drilled in an optimum location so what Crogga can do now is, effectively, redrill that well in the right place.’
Mr Hubbard said that if enough gas is found, the shallow depth of the sea off Maughold’s coast should mean it is a relatively simple well, compared to ones he has worked on previously.
While Crogga and indeed a sizable number of the island’s residents, there is also significant opposition to the company’s plans, particularly with the island, the world’s only whole nation biosphere, moving away from fossil fuels into renewable energy.
Mr Hubbard said he fully understands this and insists Crogga wants to work on the transition with islanders.
He said: ‘I was sure my next job would be straight into green energy, but I was asked by the directors of Crogga to come and have a go at this and one has to sort of take a step back and realise that the transition is a process, not an event, you can’t switch over and say from today onwards everything is going to be green.
‘The world has just gone through this horrible experience of the war, which is a horrible thing and then the consequence of the price shock of the gas.
‘So the paramount need for additional gas in friendly waters is clear to the whole world and so if we are able to appraise and then develop what becomes a commercial gas field in the Isle of Man, then it is as good as it can be.’
Mr Hubbard also said that the company hopes the gas will provide a benefit to the island’s economy and government income and again committed the company to supplying cheap gas to domestic consumers on the island, as part of its plans to sell gas off-island.
See our full interview with Mr Hubbard here: