NI Conservatives’ finance spokesman, Harry Cullen, has said the executive would be “negligent” not to consider seriously the potential of shale gas extraction to “transform the economy in Northern Ireland”.
“The accountancy firm PwC estimates that our shale oil and gas reserves could be worth £80 billion”, Harry explained. “Given the economic problems we face, it would be deeply irresponsible not to give the most serious consideration to how this resource could transform Northern Ireland.”
“We’re talking potentially about high levels of investment, jobs for local people and much lower energy costs for everyone. Shale oil and gas reserves are likely to become more and more significant as other energy resources get scarcer elsewhere around the world.”
“The greatest potential for extraction is in Fermanagh and the west, which are also two of our most important areas for tourism. Clearly the economic benefits need to be carefully balanced against any possible effects to the environment. We need to ensure that where extraction takes place there is little impact on the natural beauty of our landscape. However it’s absolutely clear that the case for exploiting shale gas and oil reserves needs to be considered with the utmost seriousness.”