Cuadrilla to Work with OGA to Lift Fracking Ban
Cuadrilla Resources said on November 4 it would work constructively with the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) to address concerns about the impact of hydraulic fracturing at its drilling site in northern England.
The OGA recently published a study that found that it was not possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of fracking-related tremors, prompting the government to impose a moratorium on the technique’s use.
Cuadrilla, which has been fracking for gas at its Preston New Road (PNR) site in Lancashire, said it would “continue to work constructively with the OGA to provide further detailed data to address concerns so that the moratorium can be lifted.”
Cuadrilla is targeting a part of the Bowland shale formation, previously estimated by the British Geological Survey to hold around 1,300 trillion ft3 in in-place gas. But it was forced to halt fracking in August after a series of record-breaking tremors. Initial shale gas flow rates from its second PNR well were nevertheless “very encouraging,” it said in late October. The company will share this data with the OGA.
“Cuadrilla has shown that natural gas can be recovered from UK shale and that this gas, at its PNR site, is of extremely high quality,” the company said this week, noting that the high calorific value of Bowland's gas could be flowed directly into the UK's pipeline network without additional treatment or processing other than water separation.
Many in the Conservative government, including prime minister Boris Johnson and business, energy and industry secretary Andrea Leadsom, have previously expressed support for fracking. Whitehall has introduced the ban, which it says is only temporary, as it prepares for a snap general election scheduled for December 12. The government is looking to attract voters away from Labour in the north of England, where several operators have applied for fracking permits.