By nature they are speculators and just occasionally they are prepared to talk about what they hope to find here and in the neighbouring counties of Cavan and Leitrim.

    The company is currently developing a large gas field in the Raton Basin in Colorado in the United States. It is estimated to contain over 2,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of gas. At the moment the field is producing over 100,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day - about one fifth of Ireland’s total daily use - and may ultimately supply over twice that amount.

    According to Dennis Carlton, a director of Evergreen, the gas field below Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim, may prove to be similar in size to the one in Colorado.

    “If economic rates of gas are discovered probably the most reasonable thing to do would be to generate electricity with it,” he suggested.

    As the gas is distributed over the 1,500,000 acres of the North West Carboniferous Basin, extracting it would involve drilling many wells. In the Raton Basin the company is currently sinking 140 a year. Evergreen says it takes pride in landscaping the sites to make the wells virtually invisible. Each well might produce enough gas to power a relatively small one megawatt generator, feeding electicity into the national grid.

    However, Mr. Carlton does not rule out other possibilities such as the setting up of factories on the site of a well or piping the gas into a network such as the one already providing heating and cooking in homes in Belfast.

    “Hopefully we will have enough gas to export to other parts of Ireland,” said Mr. Carlton, although he ruled out any possibility of there being sufficient to make piping it under the Irish Sea to Great Britain a worthwhile proposition. According to Mr. Carlton the Raton Basin field has attracted significant investment to the area and created a large number of employment opportunities.

    Drilling of the first test well, at Slisgarrow, near Derrygonnelly, has just been completed. The gas men were busy taking down the rig at the weekend and moving it to the next site at Knock Beg, again in the Derrygonnelly area. A further four test wells are planned and three others have been identified. Dowra, just across the Border in County Cavan, is of particular interest to the gas men.

    “It is interesting because even using primitive techniques in 1985 produced a commercial flow of gas - 250,000 cubic feet a day. It is our key well,” admitted Mr. Carlton.

    As tantalising as the economic prospects for natural gas might be there are those who are strongly opposed to the development on environmental grounds.

    Those for and against the exploration were given the opportunity to air their views at a public meeting in the Slieve Russell Hotel, outside Ballyconnell, on Friday night. The event was organised by the West Cavan Community Council and hosted by Evergreen. Around 150 people attended, among them three members of Fermanagh District Council: Ulster Unionist, Wilson Elliott, and Sinn Fein’s Stephen Huggett and Robin Martin. The former MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Owen Carron, was also present.

    Mr. Carlton gave the background to the current exploration. He explained that 350 million years ago the North West Carboniferous Basin here in Ireland was connected to Newfoundland in Canada and sediments deposited then produced the gas which today lies trapped in the sandstone buried between 2,200 and 4,500 feet below the surface.

    The first test drillings took place back in the 1960s. These were followed by seismic experiments to reveal the structure of the Basin. Based on this information four wells were drilled in 1985 when “minor” amounts of oil and gas were found. It was decided there was not enough to be commercially viable.

    However, by last year drilling and extraction techniques had been developed that might make the gas deposits here an economic proposition. Evergreen acquired the results of the earlier tests and obtained licences to carry out further exploration.

    Conscious of the concerns of environmentalists Mr. Carlton went on to explain the precautions taken by the company to prevent contamination of ground water and surrounding countryside. As the well is drilled it is lined with steel and encased in concrete. The first 100 feet has three layers of steel piping; the next 1,000 feet has two. A single pipe then continues to the bottom of the well, between 2,500 and 4,200 feet below the surface. Evergreen estimates that it takes 15 to 20 days of round the clock drilling to reach the sandstone containing the gas.

    The hammer drill is powered by compressed air and, according to Mr. Carlton, the technique is safe, reliable, economic, environmentally friendly and reduces damage to the gas field.

    Solid waste is disposed on a landfill site while fluids are pumped to a holding tank and allowed to evaporate. The drilling rig is fitted with an automatic valve designed to seal off the well if there is a sudden rush of gas to the surface.

    The second stage of the operation involves fracturing the sandstone to produce a flow of gas. A mixture of liquid nitrogen, sand and gum is pumped down the well at high pressure. This shoots out into the sandstone, producing a cobweb of narrow cracks in a radius of up to 500 feet, releasing any trapped gas and allowing it to flow up the pipe to the surface.

    The third stage of the operation will be to measure the amount of gas being produced and the size of the well. Over a period of 30 days the gas will be ignited and burned. In the past this has produced spectacular flares of flame but today the operation is enclosed within a purpose-built chimney stack.

    Finally Evergreen will return to the board room and decide if developing the gas field is a viable proposition.

    Mr. Carlton emphasised that the project is still at the exploration stage. He promised Evergreen would comply with government guidelines on the environment.

    He said the development of any gas field would take many years and hundreds of millions of dollars and said it would be undertaken in full and open consultation with local, regional and national government officials.

    Mr. Carlton said Evergreen’s ultimate goal was to establish and develop a “local resource of national significance.”

    He may be a successful businessman but throughout his presentation he used the language of the industry and several members of the audience, including a doctor, complained of not being able to understand what he was talking about. After the formal presentation the public had the opportunity to express their views and ask questions.

    David Scott, from Monea, pointed out that the two drill sites at Derrygonnelly were close to a recently designated Area of Special Scientific Interest and expressed concern about the impact of development on the environment and underground water systems. He also questioned the safety of the facturing technique used to extract the gas. He pointed out that it was being investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States. Mr. Scott said he needed to know more about the operation and expressed the hope that there would be full consultation with the public before any gas field would go into production.

    Owen Carron told the meeting that the people of the area were being asked to take a risk and act in good faith. He said he did not share the faith of others.

    “Are there going to be real, sustainable jobs,” asked Mr. Carron. He wondered how many local people were employed at Slisgarrow, and another well to be drilled near Derrylin. “We are being asked to take a risk, a gamble, with the local communities, with our environment,” he warned.

    Mr. Carlton explained that the nature of the gas field meant that it would have a long life, perhaps around 30 years, and that provided a stable platform for employment.

    Sheila McCaffrey, the Kinawley businesswoman who is acting an agent for Evergreen, said she had worked tirelessly to bring businesses to the area. She had talked to 20 companies and not one of them was prepared to explore the potential of the area’s natural gas. She said anyone with concerns or an interest in the project could contact her office.

    “I was disappointed that the people who had real concerns didn’t contact the office. We are here to answer your questions and work with you,” she stated.