1 Introduction
1. Shale gas is an "unconventional"
fossil fuel, which means that additional procedures are required
to extract it beyond regular drilling. Many such unconventional
sources of oil and gas were formerly too difficult (or uneconomic)
to extract until recent advances in drilling technology. A combination
of directional drilling and a process called hydraulic fracturing
have made accessible large amounts of natural gas locked up in
the tight pores of shale formations at depths of 2 km or more.
Recent successes in the United States have driven prospecting
across Europe. In 2010, Cuadrilla Resources Holdings Limited ("Cuadrilla")
began drilling near Blackpool in the Bowland Shale (which runs
from Preston to the Irish Sea).
2. Current estimates from the British Geological
Society suggest that the UK's current shale gas resources are
equivalent to approximately 1.5 years of current gas consumption
or 15 years of the UK's current LNG (liquefied natural gas) imports.[1]
More recent figures from the US Energy Information Administration
(EIA) estimate that the UK has technically recoverable shale gas
resources equivalent to 5.6 years' worth of consumption or 56
years' worth of LNG imports.[2]
The EIA report estimates that shale gas adds 40% to the world's
technically recoverable natural gas resources, mostly in China
and the US.[3]
3. We launched our inquiry on 24 November 2010.
We received 24 submissions of written evidence, for which we were
grateful.[4] We held four
oral evidence sessions during our inquiry. A full list of witnesses
can be found at the end of this Report.[5]
We would like to express our thanks to all those who contributed
to our evidence-gathering. As part of our work on this inquiry
we visited the site of Cuadrilla's UK exploration activities near
Blackpool (the only shale gas operator in the UK) and also travelled
to Washington DC and Fort Worth, Texas to meet state and national
legislators, environmental activists and companies involved in
shale gas exploration and production.[6]
We are extremely grateful to those who took the time to meet us
and provide us with first-hand knowledge of the opportunities
and challenges facing both those who extract shale gas and those
who regulate and monitor extraction activity.
4. In this Report we consider the prospects for
shale gas in the UK, the risks and hazards associated with shale
gas, and the potential carbon footprint of large-scale shale gas
extraction. We also consider the implications for the UK of large-scale
shale gas production around the world. The report continues with
an analysis of the prospects for shale gas in both the UK and
abroad and the likelihood of rapid depletion of reserves. Chapter
Four examines the policy implications for the Government of the
establishment of a shale gas industry in the UK, and the regulatory
challenges to be faced by the Department of Energy and Climate
Change and its agencies. Chapter Five analyses the environmental
risks associated with shale gas, including water and air contamination.
Finally, in Chapter Six we consider the potential carbon footprint
of shale gas and the implications of this for the UK's emissions
and climate change targets.
1 See Box 1 p 13 Back
2
US EIA, World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of
14 Regions outside the US, April 2011, p 3 Back
3
US EIA, World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of
14 Regions outside the US, April 2011, p 4 Back
4
List of written evidence, p 76 Back
5
Witnesses, p 75 Back
6
See Annex 1: Note of the visit to the USA Back
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