England fracking ban lifted to boost UK energy supply

The UK government officially lifted a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas in England today, formalising a commitment that prime minister Liz Truss made shortly after taking office earlier this month.

The ban had been in place in England since November 2019, following a report by the UK's upstream oil and gas regulator highlighting the difficulties in predicting the probability or magnitude of earthquakes linked to fracking operations. The government's decision to change course comes against a backdrop of mounting energy security concerns and soaring energy prices, with Truss suggesting earlier this month that UK energy policy up until now had not focused enough on securing supply.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin's "weaponisation of energy" has made strengthening energy security "an absolute priority", business and energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said today. "We will need to explore all avenues available to us through solar, wind, oil and gas production — so it's right that we've lifted the pause to realise any potential sources of domestic gas," he said.

Ahead of this morning's announcement, Rees-Mogg told the BBC that limits on seismic activity resulting from fracking could be reviewed. Under current regulations, work has to stop if an earthquake of 0.5 magnitude or above is generated. But "that level is too low", Rees-Mogg said, adding that a potential new threshold is being "looked at".

UK shale gas firm Cuadrilla, whose work in 2018 was impacted by minor tremors, welcomed the government's announcement. Lifting the moratorium "will help the shale industry unlock UK onshore natural gas in quantities sufficient to meet the UK's needs for decades to come," chief executive Francis Egan said. It will also "help tackle spiralling gas prices".

Estimates of UK shale gas resources vary considerably. The British Geological Survey's central projection for the Bowland basin in the north of England is 1,329 trillion ft³ (37.6 trillion m³), with a range of 829 trillion-2,281 trillion ft³. But only 10pc of any original resource in place is likely to be recoverable. Back in March, former energy and clean growth minister Greg Hands pointed out that the process involved in fracking might be too slow and output too low to offer much relief to tight supply and high prices.

By Giulio Bajona