A Calgary company planning to renew its licence to explore for oil and gas in Nova Scotia is eagerly awaiting the results of the province’s hydraulic fracturing review.

Forent Energy Ltd. said Tuesday it has met the capital work commitment stipulated in its exploration licence for the Alton block in Colchester County, spending more than $4.5 million before this spring.

The company plans to renew its licence for another three years, stretching its search for onshore hydrocarbons in Nova Scotia until April 2017.

But Forent president and chief executive officer Richard Wade expressed concern with the uncertainty of operating in Nova Scotia while the fracking review is continuing.

“We’re caught in a period where we need to make a work commitment, but the rules under which we need to work are not clearly defined,” Wade said in an interview. “We’re kind of in this grey zone.

“We’re absolutely very interested in doing more work on the block. We just need to understand what the rules and regulations are in which we’re going to do that work.”

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used by the oil and gas industry to stimulate a well by injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground.

The uncertainty surrounding fracking in the province has made it difficult for Forent to raise capital, Wade said.

The company began looking for a joint-venture partner to boost exploration activity in Nova Scotia last year.

“I’ve had personal conversations with a number of different companies, including major international companies who have expressed interest in doing something on the block,” Wade said.

However, investors and potential joint-venture partners have shied away from Forent’s activities in Nova Scotia until the fracking review is completed.

“We’re raising money and looking for partners to help us develop the block, but the first question that we get is what are the results of the review,” Wade said. “They say come see me once the fracking review is done and we can talk about what it means to do business in Nova Scotia.”

The province commissioned an independent review of hydraulic fracturing last year. Meetings and public consultations are expected to wrap up this May. The review panel will then issue recommendations, which the provincial government is expected to adopt.

Until then, onshore oil and gas exploration in the province remains in limbo.

While it is still unclear whether Nova Scotia has commercially viable hydrocarbon deposits onshore, Wade said Forent is committed to the province.

“We’re really on the leading edge of onshore exploration in Nova Scotia.”

The company has spent a total of $11 million exploring for oil and gas here, he said.

“We think the prize is worth chasing. We just need the regulations to work under.”

In 2012, Forent drilled two exploration wells on the Alton block, and “several significant natural gas shows were detected and live oil was found in the mud tank” of one of those wells.

“Although it is disappointing that economic quantities of oil and/or natural gas were not encountered in either of the two wells, Forent is extremely pleased to obtain positive indications of an active petroleum system,” the company said at the time.

Forent needs to drill more exploratory wells in order to assess the commercial viability of what is underground, Wade said.

The company is eyeing two types of rocks in the Alton block, in the Upper Stewiacke area. Although Wade said one of the rocks does not appear to require fracking, Wade said the pore space in the second type of rock is mineralized and could require hydraulic fracturing in order to stimulate.

“We don’t know until we drill into it what the actual rocks are going to hold and contain. The wells may need to be stimulated.”