{"id":1833,"date":"2018-10-18T15:37:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T15:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=1833"},"modified":"2018-10-18T15:37:11","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T15:37:11","slug":"gas-fracking-to-start-in-england-again-next-week-after-7-year-halt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=1833","title":{"rendered":"Gas fracking to start in England again next week after 7-year halt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Reuters\/Preston<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shale gas developer Cuadrilla Resources expects to start gas fracking in northwest England next week, seven years after its first attempt to hydraulically fracture a well led to earth tremors, public protests and an overhaul of regulations.
\nThe process, behind a surge in US gas production, involves fracturing rock deep under ground using a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to encourage the flow of hydrocarbons from shale, a dense and tightly-packed sedimentary rock.
\nIt has draw criticism from the public and campaigners concerned about the environmental impact of fracking and the pollution caused by fossil fuels.
\nProtests against the practice led to work at Cuadrilla\u2019s site being halted in 2011.
\nBut the government, keen to cut Britain\u2019s reliance on gas imports which soared to more than 50% of gas supplies, has tightened regulations and earlier this year gave consent for Cuadrilla to go ahead again.
\nCuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan told Reuters that fracking of two wells and associated work would test gas flows.
\n\u201cFrom that we\u2019ll be able to make an assessment of how much gas is recoverable and whether it will be commercially viable to develop the site,\u201d he said on the muddy Preston New Road site.
\nThe industry\u2019s future in Europe may hinge on the outcome.
\nAlthough fracking has grown rapidly in the United States, it has not been proved viable in Europe despite several attempts, including projects that failed in Poland five years ago.
\nFracking has been banned in France, Germany and several other European countries.
\nCuadrilla\u2019s well will be the first fracked horizontal well in Britain and the results will be watched by shale explorers such as IGas, Egdon and Third Energy, as well as majors like Exxon which was unsuccessful in Poland.
\nThe plans could also be delayed by an injunction hearing due on October 10.
\nEnvironment group Friends of the Earth said the injunction was sought by Bob Dennett, a resident in Lancashire, the English county where the project located.
\nThe hearing \u201cwill decide whether the injunction is upheld or whether fracking can commence whilst there is an outstanding judicial review over emergency planning procedures at the site,\u201d Friends of the Earth said in a statement.
\nEgan said this was a \u201clast ditch, desperate attempt to slow us down\u201d and said: \u201cWe think we have a very strong case to have that rejected and we will be in court next week arguing that.\u201d
\nThe British Geological Survey estimates shale gas resources in northern England alone could amount to 1,300tn cubic feet (tcf) of gas, 10% of which could meet the country\u2019s demand for almost 40 years.
\nBritain has just 6.5 tcf in proved reserves and last year pumped 1.5 tcf, according to the BP Statistics Review.
\nProved reserves are the strictest calculation of oil and gas that can be commercially extracted.
\nThey change as discoveries are made.
\nCuadrilla, owned by Australian mining servicing company AJ Lucas and US private equity fund Riverstone, said resource estimates were about 330 tcf for its licence area.
\nCuadrilla\u2019s aimed to test a consultancy estimate that a single 2.5km (1.25 mile) well would produce 6bn cubic feet (bcm) of gas over its lifetime or about 5mn cubic feet a day, Egan said.
\nIf the tests are positive, Cuadrilla has permission for two more wells at the site located next to a road connecting the northern English towns of Preston and Blackpool.
\nCuadrilla has enough funds for the current tests.
\nIts shareholder Riverstone, a $38bn private equity fund, has invested in US shale firms such as pipeline operator Kinder Morgan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters\/Preston Shale gas developer Cuadrilla Resources expects to start gas fracking in northwest England next week, seven years after its first attempt to hydraulically fracture a well led to earth tremors, public…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,57,90,96,107,137,139,160,174,184,201,202,209,232,233,244,246,249,256,267,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-1833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aramco","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}