Hydraulic fracturing

"From 'We Continue the Change' we are against the extraction of shale gas in Bulgaria", the co-chairman of the party Kiril Petkov told bTV.

"Fracking technologies for extracting shale gas are much cleaner than Russian natural gas. Don't allow a handful of ill-informed activists who use arguments not based on facts to destroy your future," former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today in Sofia, quoted by BTA.

Britain on Oct. 6 approved a shale gas fracking project in the north of England, overruling a local council's decision to prevent the controversial scheme which is also opposed by environmentalists.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid gave the green light for the drilling of up to four wells by energy group Cuadrilla at the Preston New Road site.

U.S. company abandons fracking project in Romania

BUCHAREST -- The U.S. oil and gas company Chevron will this year cancel a project of exploration and production of shale gas in Romania.

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov assured on Friday that there will be no shale gas extraction in the country until a new eco-friendly method is invented.

His statement was made at the annual forum of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria.

At present no exploration works are being carried out at the Vranino field in northeastern Bulgaria, as the verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) is awaited.
This was announced by the Minister of Environment and Water Ivelina Vasileva in a response to a question posed to her in Parliament on Friday, electronic daily Dnevnik reports.

"What is US Secretary of State John Kerry doing in Bulgaria?," a number of media outlets, both in Bulgaria, the region and the West, seem to be wondering, against the backdrop of a few important diplomatic visits this month.

Bulgaria's new Environment Minister, Ivelina Vasileva, has vowed to keep the 2012 moratorium on the exploration and production of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing.

In a Sunday interview for bTV, Vasileva insisted that the authorities would not allow illegal and uncontrolled construction.
She pledged clearly mapped protected areas on the Black Sea coast.

Securing Bulgaria's energy independence is part of the programme of Bulgaria's new coalition government expected to voted into office on Friday.

Independent presidential candidate Monica Macovei told a meeting on Saturday with her supporters at the Lujerului metro station in Bucharest that she fought and continues to fight for 'Romania, the country where they do not steal.'