Express: Shale gas could halve UK imports
ONE hundred shale gas production sites across the country covering a combined area equivalent to Manchester’s Trafford Centre would be enough to halve the UK’s dependence on imports.
This is according to the head of a London-listed company set to explore for the controversial energy source.
Andrew Austin, chief executive of IGas Energy, already the UK’s largest onshore oil and gas operator, is preparing to drill an appraisal well for gas, including shale gas, in the fourth quarter of this year. His company holds licences for up to six such wells in the North-west’s Bowland shale.