Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. is proceeding with the development of shale gas in northern England even as environmental opposition grows and other regions impose temporary bans on drilling.
“Where we are in Lancashire, we are still going forward,” CEO Francis Egan said Tuesday on Bloomberg television. “We have all the permits from the environment agency now.”
Scotland and Wales this year imposed a moratorium on fracking, which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to release gas within shale rock, until they study new environmental safeguards. Cuadrilla faced a setback last month when planners in Lancashire County Council recommended rejecting its applications to drill at two sites. The final decision was delayed to April after the company asked for an extension to address residents’ concerns about traffic and noise.
Parts of northern England may hold as much as 39 Tcm (1,300 Tcf) of gas, enough to meet U.K. demand for half a century even if just 10% is extracted, according to Bloomberg calculations. If the U.K. doesn’t develop its own resources, it will be vulnerable to the geopolitical risks associated with importing from Russia or the Middle East, Egan said at a conference last week.
“We are pretty confident it will happen,” Egan said, commenting on the development of shale gas in the U.K.
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