Breitling Energy Steps into UK Fracking Debate

Breitling Energy restated its endorsement to fracking in Great Britain. It also reprimanded Cuadrilla for its soft ‘response to the protesters’ in West Sussex.

Speaking before a government report due to be published this week on the environmental impact of fracking, Breitling’s chief executive said that Cuadrilla should have stepped up its efforts to minimize protesters’ achievements. Chris Faulkner said that the confrontation between shale gas driller Cuadrilla and campaigners in Balcombe raised concerns within the industry.

“I did not see a strong message coming out of Cuadrilla during May and June when the demonstrations were taking place. The reaction instead seemed to be to put up a prison fence. Does that create a situation where people would like to come and invest large sums of capital? No, it does not,” he told The Guardian as reported by the company. 

Breitling, which owns drilling sites in US and Canada, said that shale gas would benefit UK both environmentally and economically.

‘With fracking, the UK could expand its energy supply and strengthen its economy without jeopardizing the health and safety of its citizens. As the winter cold sets in, that’s heartwarming news,’ the company wrote in a note released on Friday.

Dallas-based Breitling said that shale gas reserves could power the nation for the next half century.

‘The opposition to fracking is a product of scientific misunderstanding – or worse, an agenda put forward by supposed environmental advocates who stand to profit if natural gas never lives up to its full potential,’ reads the press release.