The boss of energy firm Crogga says the company is ‘alive and well’ despite withdrawing its application to vary its licence to extract gas from the Manx seabed.

Crogga’s licence, first issued in 2018, was due to expire on December 20 but has been extended for a fourth time.

The company had wanted to vary the conditions so that it could drill a test well based on a 2D seismic survey rather than a 3D one as stripulated.

But with no agreement reached with the Department of Infrastructure it has now withdrawn its application.

A two-month extension has also been agreed so that discussions around ‘other outstanding matters’ can be concluded before a new end date to the licence can be set.

Crogga chief executive officer Richard Hubbard told Media Isle of Man: ‘Crogga is very much alive and well and progressing on several fronts.

‘I am looking forward to progressing the Isle of Man project in the New Year.’

The company estimates sales of natural gas from the Crogga field off the coast of Maughold could generate £2.8bn in revenues and royalties for the Treasury.

In October it announced it was also planning to drill a test well off the coast of Blackpool.

Its Crogga UK subsidiary has acquired a licence containing the undeveloped Ronaldsway gas field which despite its name, is actually much closer to the UK coast.

Crogga says it plans to drill the Ronaldsway appraisal well late in 2025 and then, subject to international-standard drilling regulations being enacted in the Isle of Man, to then move the rig to drill the Independence test well in Manx waters in 2026.

Aberdeen-based Three60 has been appointed well operator.

One major hurdle is that six years on from the production licence being issued, Tynwald has still not enacted the necessary regulations to allow drilling to start.

Mr Hubbard said: ‘The IoM Government failed to enact drilling regs when the production licence was issued in 2018 and that remains the case today.

‘We will drill the Independence well as soon as drilling regs are available.

‘If the Independence well confirms commercial flow rates of natural gas, Crogga will develop the Isle of Man’s only known gas field.

‘The gas field could be the most valuable asset owned by the island, generating some £2.8bn revenue for the Manx Treasury over the 19-year life of field.

‘Given the state of the island economy, there is urgency for the IoM Government to make sure that the Independence well can be drilled as soon as possible.’

On December 18, an employment tribunal ruled that Crogga founder and former chief executive Diccen Sargent should be awarded more than £130,000 in unpaid wages from his time with the company.