Progress on fracking ‘glacially slow’ despite backing from prime minister and promise of generous tax breaks
The UK government’s planned shale gas revolution has barely got out of the starting blocks with just 11 new exploratory wells for shale gas and oil due to be drilled this year even before the impact of plunging oil prices has fully begun to impact on the industry.
David Cameron has said the government is going “all out for shale” but just a handful of new wells are in line to be created in 2015 and just nine wells – eight new and one existing – have been announced as candidates for fracking.
Professor Jim Watson, research director at the UK Energy Research Centre and author of a recent report on the potential for shale gas in the UK, said that statements by politicians on shale gas’s potential had been speculative.
“Given the low number of wells that have been drilled in the UK, and the very low level of experience of shale gas production here, it is far too early to say how much shale gas could be produced…. The prime minister’s statement that shale could provide gas for the UK ‘perhaps for as long as 30 years’ is therefore very speculative and optimistic,” said Watson.
He added that it was unlikely the UK would have a significant shale industry until the early 2020s and even then the UK would still need to import the majority of its gas.
Neither the trade body representing the industry, the United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas (Ukoog) nor the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which is responsible for much of the regulation, collects data on how many shale gas projects are currently taking place and where. The list of 11 sites comes from a Guardian analysis of company statements, planning applications and communication with the main companies involved.
The push to exploit shale gas has received strong backing from both the prime minister and George Osborne. The chancellor has said the fuel presents “huge potential” for the UK economy and that he had put in place the world’s most generous tax regime for shale gas and fracking. But the head of the trade body representing the industry said this month that progress has been “glacially slow” compared to other countries.
