A FUEL company wants to use a 120ft high drilling rig to explore a methane gas field in Penketh.

The Canadian firm is going to test the quality of the gas on land behind Four Topped Oak off Farnworth Road.

It hopes that if the fuel is good enough quality, it can be commercially exploited.

Nexen, which also operates North Sea oil and gas fields, wrote to the council to say the use of small Coal Bed Methane (CBM) fields was a new concept in Britain.

The firm said: "CBM now accounts for nearly 10 per cent of gas production in the US and Canada. Nexen is aiming to demonstrate that CBM can be commercially viable in the UK."

The interest in CBM is being driven by the decline in north sea stocks and the realisation that the UK will soon be dependent on imported gas. It has only been exploited intermittently in the past.

Permission to work the 0.95ha greenbelt site was granted in 1999, but so far, only one test drill has been carried out near White Moss Nursery and to depth of 600m.

The drilling rig proposed for use is 38m high, and can reach down to a depth of 225m.

It would operate for 24 hours a day for a maximum of 90 days, and the consultants employed by the applicants, said the sound levels would be within limits.

Elizabeth Conway, from Farnworth Road, has already written a letter of objection to the council, saying: "This area has already got more than its fair share of pollution coming from Fiddlers Ferry and constant traffic noise from the wagons using Farnworth Road.

"This application would have damaging effects on mine and my neighbours health."

sbailey@guardiangrp.co.uk