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Gas Exploration close to Reservoir Dam...?

Gas Exploration close to Reservoir Dam...?

Gas Exploration close to Reservoir Dam...?

(OP)
Dear All,
                   I live in a small village in Northern Italy called Lugagnano, in the valley of a small river called Arda, between Piacenza and Parma (at about: latitude 44.8 N, longitude 9.8 E). Maybe Veleia (Roman city) and Castell'Arquato (Middle-Age castle and town) are the most famous places in the area.
                   Just to give you an idea, the local landscape (the hills half-way between the Po plain and the Apennine mountains) is characterized by argil outcrops called "Calanchi", where you can find many marine fossils, including shells and whale bones. For this a geological era was also called "Piacenziano" (a subdivision of the Pliocene era).

                   A few miles South, i.e. upstream respect to Arda river, there is a big dam that provides the whole valley with both drinkable and irrigation water (the place is called Mignano, within the municipal territory of Vernasca). At the moment I can't say exactly how many tens of meters the dam wall is high or how many millions of cubic meters of water the artificial reservoir may contain... For sure I know that, at least on the surface, there are not hard rocks and the area is frequently subject to landslips.

                   Now it seems that, in the next months, the drilling of a 3,000 m deep gas exploration well will be started, not far from the dam itself.

                   At the web-page http://www.bg-group.com/international/int-italy.htm you can read:  

    "     EXPLORATION

    BG Group has concentrated its Italian exploration and production activity on high potential oil and gas exploration acreage in the Sicily Channel and the Po Valley. The portfolio consists of ten exploration permits (five of which are BG Group-operated) and four applications (three of which are BG Group-operated).
    (...)
    A three year onshore exploration programme is underway in the Po Valley, with two seismic acquisition programmes, including an innovative sparse 3D technique, acquired in 2003/2004. The first operated well is scheduled to be drilled starting in early 2005, subject to the granting of environmental approvals..."

  
                   As I'm not very confident about our local Politicians who have to decide about that "environmental approvals"      my question is: if gas is found and extraction begins, could that be dangerous for the dam (and pond) stability? Would be possible that something moves underground?

                   Such a location for a gas well sounds very unusual to me, but I'm not in the business and so I may be wrong... can anyone provide some other examples of gas or oil wells close to dams, reservoirs or lakes?

Many thanks and best regards to All,
                                            'NGL    

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