You're getting as bad as C'mon with your highlighted sensationalism Marg.
Taken from the vary same article you posted :-
"They get four years to look around – that [four-year period] is protecting their commercial opportunity." He added that it was normal practice for oil and gas exploration companies to keep such commercial information confidential for a period.
If it wasn't commercial it wouldn't be
secret ! Much has been written & placed in the public domain about the actual process & its effects, from this various Governments have to balance the Countries ability to be fuel self sufficient or reliant on foreign imports, plus the benefits against the negatives.
This isn't an ideal World so everything can't be perfect & suit everyone, some measure of calculated risk is present in every, everyday action & we've just got to get on with it, that or go back to the stone age ! (Which wasn't exactly risk free either.
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