Centrica in Talks with Cuadrilla to Buy Shale Gas Licences in Lancashire

The UK-based multinational Centrica is in talks with Cuadrilla Resources to buy a stake in its Bowland shale licences. Centrica did not publicly confirm, but a number of newspapers report that negotiations were at an advanced stage.

Cuadrilla’s shareholder AJ Lucas Group said earlier this year that the British pioneer of shale gas mining in Britain was negotiating a farm-in-agreement with a leading energy company. AJ Lucas did not name the potential investor.

In January, Centrica’s CEO Sam Laidlaw played down the prospects that shale gas could transform UK energy market, saying that British shale gas was not a “game changer.”

In March, Centrica struck a £10 deal with Cheniere to import shale gas from the US within three years.

The British government’s lifting of a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing at the end of last year, opens the way for companies to begin drilling wells and tap into shale resources. Cuadrilla’s Bowland Basin in northwest England holds about 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, the company has said, although only a fraction of that will be recovered.