How the Ukraine War Gave Fracking a Second Chance in Britain


LITTLE PLUMPTON, UK – Not much remains of the UK’s only operable fracking site. knocked out in 2019 caused such strong ground shaking that they were felt from miles away.

A pile of flares rises above the green safety fence to burn methane gas, but the drill rig is gone and the plan was to pour concrete into the wells, making the UK’s shale gas extraction experiment a thing of the past.

But The war that ravaged Ukraine and Britain’s fracturing industry, which has disrupted global energy supplies, gained an 11-hour delay.

Workers were expected to start closing the two wells this month, but – to the alarm of local campaigners – energy firm Cuadrilla is instead discussing an extension of its license with regulators.

“It’s frustrating because they were so close to shutting down the wells,” said Susan Holliday, who lives a few hundred meters from the site in Lancashire in northwest England. For eight years he had opposed hydraulic fracturing and thought victory was in his hands.

“If it had been a month ago, it would have been too late, they would have done it,” he said.

Still follow up Russian invasion of Ukraine Late last month, nearly 30 lawmakers from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party urged him to end the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng recently admitted that at the moment, “it doesn’t make any concrete sense.” he did. over the wells.”

Enthusiasts going further include Andy Mayer, an energy analyst at the Institute for Economic Affairs, a free-market think tank who argues that “closing these wells now is like dynamite a gold rush gold mine.”

The effort to salvage the hydraulic fracturing that creates cracks in rock formations to release trapped natural gas is part of a broader energy policy assessment in light of: a global crisis this also put pressure on companies to extract more of the UK’s dwindling North Sea energy supplies.

Less than six months after Mr Johnson’s hosting COP26 climate summitPoliticians are starting to challenge the country’s decarbonization strategy amid rising energy costs for consumers.

Domestic gas and electricity bills could triple this year – alongside a wider strain on living standards – and senior pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has called for a referendum to now cancel the government’s plan to hit the net zero target for carbon emissions. 2050.

According to the British government, 41.9 percent of the energy consumed in 2020 was provided by gas, 31.2 percent by oil and 3.4 percent by coal.

UK imports Relatively little energy from Russia (and plans to stop all oil purchases this year).

But the global price increase is affecting all countries that rely to some degree on imported oil and gas, causing a reassessment of the UK government’s energy policy. Even before the war in Ukraine, increase in costs He had bankrupted 30 British energy companies, most of them small.

Against this background, Mr Johnson plans to draft a new energy security strategy soon, which is expected to require more renewable and nuclear power.

Given its political fragility A scandal over Downing Street parties Violating the pandemic lockdown rules, Mr Johnson seems likely to at least keep the door open for fracking, which has the backing of a rigid committee within his own party that could cause him trouble.

This month, Greg Hands, an energy minister, said that “shale gas and new approaches could be part of our future energy mix” as the country transitions to green energy, adding that “scientific evidence and local support are vital.”

Fracking advocates include Jacob Rees-Mogg, a senior minister, and David Frost, Mr Johnson’s former cabinet colleague. They express hope that Britain can replicate the experience of the United States. became an energy exporter largely because of the shale.

Francis Egan, Cuadrilla’s CEO, said in a statement that he expressed disappointment that despite the government’s rhetoric, it has not yet given clear instructions to the energy regulator to allow fracking to continue. He called on ministers to “ensure that companies like Cuadrilla and others don’t have to bear the risk and financial costs of operating in a position where a government can continue to change its mind and demand that wells be hardened while they are extremely beneficial.”

The moratorium on hydraulic fracturing has been in place since the Lancashire field caused a 2.9-magnitude earthquake three years ago, and its government has urged Cuadrilla to say it must demonstrate that the shale can be removed safely before proceeding.

Critics doubt it can do this, but the rewards for getting the green light can be high. According to a reportIn a country that consumes about 2.8 trillion cubic feet of gas per year, the center of reserves is an estimated 1.329 trillion cubic feet.

However, experts are not so optimistic because the actual amounts that can be extracted become clear only when serious drilling begins. They say it will take years for any significant amount of shale to kick in and therefore will not help the immediate crisis.

“It’s likely to be much more expensive here than in the US because we don’t have large open spaces; “We are a very densely populated island,” said Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at the University of Oxford. “The geology in Britain is much more complex than in the shale producing regions of the United States, and the extent of the reserves is usually only clear when companies drill.”

“My guess is that the combination of complexities and dense population makes it much more expensive than the US,” he added.

However, shale supporters feel that the current energy crisis offers an opportunity to persuade consumers to rethink. Speaking in parliament, Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative MP, said communities should be asked if they would be willing to mine shale gas in their area if it meant they would be compensated with free gas.

Outside of a supermarket in Kirkham, not far from the Lancashire fracking site, shoppers have expressed concern about the looming rise in energy bills.

“Of course we will be shot, but what can you do?” Bob Whiteside, a retired driver, added that he would welcome fracking if he cut bills while standing next to an ATM. “Just keep going,” he said.

But not everyone shares his stance.

Fracking anti-fracking Claire Stephenson described the noise of the 2019 earthquake as “an inner roar, the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced,” describing it as “You can hear the ground and feel it shaking: My cat has fallen. bed.”

Among the protesters who have vowed to oppose the resumption of fracking in Lancashire is Barbara Richardson, a former voter for Mr Johnson’s Conservatives.

“I have never been environmentalists, we have never been protesters, we are not ‘Nimby’, we are not ‘green spots,'” he said, referring to some of the definitions applied by critics to opposition groups in Lancashire. for shale gas.

He added that what is happening now is “a last-ditch effort by the fracking industry to try to gain some credibility, and it’s a disgrace for them to use the Ukraine crisis for that.”

“That’s why I think a lot of people were shocked that it was back on the table,” said locals, noting that they thought their opposition killed fracking.



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