PetroWorth's Exploration Agreement Extended

The Department of Energy is granting PetroWorth Resources a one-year extension to its exploration agreement for the Lake Ainslie area in western Cape Breton.

The extension is retroactive to July 15, 2012.

In June, PetroWorth requested an extension to its current exploration agreement, which expired July 15. The Department of Energy reserved its decision pending the outcome of a court appeal to overturn the environmental approval of PetroWorth's exploration well.

"Now that the court has dismissed the appeal, we are granting PetroWorth its ninth and final year of its exploration agreement," said Energy Minister Charlie Parker today, Aug. 9. "The agreement does not give the company the authority to drill or undertake any other activity, but the company does have those required approvals in place."

PetroWorth applied in the fall of 2010 to drill a traditional exploration well in search of oil, not shale gas, on private property in the Lake Ainslie area. It does not involve hydraulic fracturing.

PetroWorth received an Industrial Approval from the Department of Environment in July 2011 and an Authority to Drill from the Department of Energy in September 2011.