According to Geoenergo CEO Dušan Stopar, plans are also to upgrade and restart an existing methanol factory of the state-owned oil company Nafta Lendava. The project is to cost up to EUR 1.3m and is expected to be financed through bank loans.

The factory will consume about 160 million cubic metres of gas per year and about three quarters of the amount is expected to come from the two new wells.

The projects in the area are based on estimates from 2008 and 2009 that the area of the Mura depression holds some 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Older gas wells currently produce about 3 million cubic metres of gas per year.

Dejan Božič from Ascent Resources told the press today that the company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has so far invested EUR 40m in the development of the gas field near the village of Petišovci. The company recently announced it obtained a EUR 6m investment to continue developing the field.

Representatives of all companies involved stressed that Geoenergo uses a safe technology of gas extraction. This has also been confirmed by mining inspections while the Geological Survey of Slovenia completed a detailed study of the impact on the environment.

The companies said the study found that the technology of fracking was found to be acceptable provided all required safeguards are put into place. The "stimulation of sandstones" cannot be compared to techniques of multiple fracturing of the geologic structures of shales, which has been in the limelight worldwide, they stressed.

Geoenergo is jointly owned by state-owned companies Petrol (energy company) and Nafta Lendava (refinery) and holds exclusive rights to mineral resources in the area through 2021.