Parliament Publication: The Economic Impact on UK Energy Policy of Shale Gas and Oil

The shale gas revolution in the United States has illustrated the economic opportunity offered to the United Kingdom by its own shale gas resources—if they can be developed successfully. We strongly support the Government in their objective to exploit these resources but believe they need to do much more to encourage exploration and get development moving.

In the US, new production techniques using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to release gas from shale rocks have brought abundant and growing new supplies of gas to market in a short time. Shale oil production is also growing rapidly. The US energy mix has changed fast....

The effects of the US revolution are already being felt globally. The UK and Germany, for instance, are generating more electricity from US coal displaced by shale gas. North America is expected soon to become self-sufficient in energy and a large exporter of shale gas in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Many other countries have also been alerted to the economic potential of their own shale resources and expect to develop them.
MORE