Woodburn oil well: Protestors say they will maintain a presence at proposed exploratory oil well

Work on an exploratory oil well at Woodburn Forest was expected to start this week

Protestors say they will maintain a presence at the site of a proposed exploratory oil well in Co Antrim.

Work had been expected to begin at Woodburn Forest, near Carrickfergus, this week. So far no work has started.

A small number of protesters are in place at the site along with a modest police presence.

Campaigners object because it is within the catchment of a reservoir. They claim it could impact on the water supply to thousands of homes.

Northern Ireland Water, which has leased the site, has said it believes the project does not pose a risk.

Protest

Protestors turned up on Monday to oppose the start of the work.

The drilling company, Infrastrata, cannot begin drilling until a waste management plan is approved.

That has to be done by the planning authority, which is Mid and East Antrim council. That could take several weeks.

The proposed well head is around 400m from the reservoir.

The campaign group Stop the Drill has called for the planning consents to be reviewed by the Department of the Environment.

The company has said that once it starts, it will take seven weeks of drilling to complete the borehole.

All work will be finished within four months.

Infrastrata has claimed there could be 40 million barrels of oil thousands of metres underground.

The work is proceeding under what are called permitted development rights, meaning it does not need full planning permission.

If it wants to progress to a working oil well, the company will have to submit an application.