Cuadrilla Resources site, Merseyside, UK. A report has stated that fracking carried out by Cuadrilla triggered tremors. (PA)
Hydraulic fracturing – a controversial technique used in drilling for shale gas – is likely to have caused the small tremors reported in the UK earlier this year, an independent report published on Wednesday concluded. Analysts polled by Interfax were split on the actual dangers of shale gas drilling, but agreed the findings would have “negative consequences for the industry”.
The Geomechanical Study of Bowland Shale Seismicity report said it was “highly probable” that the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) carried out by UK company Cuadrilla Resources at the Preese Hall-1 well in Lancashire triggered the seismic tremors. The well is located on Lancashire’s Fylde coast, approximately 3.5 km east of the outer limits of Blackpool.
The earthquakes occurred on 1 April and 27 May this year and reached a magnitude of 2.3 and 1.5 respectively on the Richter scale.
Following the event in May, Cuadrilla ceased fracking at the Preese Hall site and commissioned an independent report to consider the causes and implications of the earthquakes.
“Fracking will resume when the Department for Energy and Climate Change is comfortable with the report, and the measures proposed by Cuadrilla for future fracking operations,” a spokesman for Cuadrilla, Stephen Smith, told Interfax on Wednesday.
The UK’s Energy Minister Charles Hendry said in a statement that his department would look closely at Cuadrilla’s report before deciding whether fracking operations should resume in the UK. “This is a potentially important addition to our energy resources, but its development must be done in a way that carries public confidence,” he added.
The report, carried out by a team of independent seismic experts based in Europe, said the earthquakes were due to an “unusual combination of factors including the specific geology of the well site, coupled with the pressure exerted by water injection”. It added that the combination of geological factors was rare and would be unlikely to occur together again at future well sites. If these factors were to combine again, seismic tremors around a magnitude of three on the Richter scale would be the worst-case scenario.
The earthquakes were felt by a small number of people but neither had any structural impact on the surface above, according to the report. However, there is mounting concern in the UK and other European countries, most notably France, about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, including water contamination and noise pollution issues.
“Seismic activity of up to two or three on the Richter scale occurs all the time, so it is hard to make a judgement if shale gas drilling is actually dangerous,” Dr. Manouchehr Takin, a senior petroleum upstream analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London told Interfax on Wednesday.
Other analysts expressed surprise at the news. “In the United States, unconventional drilling has been going for several years, and there have been no such reports of seismic activity,” IHS energy analyst Claudia Mahn pointed out to Interfax.
“Whether this is something that’s just specific to the Preese Hall location of the well or whether it’s something that’s applicable to the whole of the Bowland shale itself, we’re yet to see. But I think the future for shale in the UK is very much in the balance at the moment,” Joseph Dutton, analyst at Douglas Westwood, told Interfax.
Fracking likely cause of UK tremors
Cuadrilla Resources site, Merseyside, UK. A report has stated that fracking carried out by Cuadrilla triggered tremors. (PA)
Hydraulic fracturing – a controversial technique used in drilling for shale gas – is likely to have caused the small tremors reported in the UK earlier this year, an independent report published on Wednesday concluded. Analysts polled by Interfax were split on the actual dangers of shale gas drilling, but agreed the findings would have “negative consequences for the industry”.
The Geomechanical Study of Bowland Shale Seismicity report said it was “highly probable” that the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) carried out by UK company Cuadrilla Resources at the Preese Hall-1 well in Lancashire triggered the seismic tremors. The well is located on Lancashire’s Fylde coast, approximately 3.5 km east of the outer limits of Blackpool.
The earthquakes occurred on 1 April and 27 May this year and reached a magnitude of 2.3 and 1.5 respectively on the Richter scale.
Following the event in May, Cuadrilla ceased fracking at the Preese Hall site and commissioned an independent report to consider the causes and implications of the earthquakes.
“Fracking will resume when the Department for Energy and Climate Change is comfortable with the report, and the measures proposed by Cuadrilla for future fracking operations,” a spokesman for Cuadrilla, Stephen Smith, told Interfax on Wednesday.
The UK’s Energy Minister Charles Hendry said in a statement that his department would look closely at Cuadrilla’s report before deciding whether fracking operations should resume in the UK. “This is a potentially important addition to our energy resources, but its development must be done in a way that carries public confidence,” he added.
The report, carried out by a team of independent seismic experts based in Europe, said the earthquakes were due to an “unusual combination of factors including the specific geology of the well site, coupled with the pressure exerted by water injection”. It added that the combination of geological factors was rare and would be unlikely to occur together again at future well sites. If these factors were to combine again, seismic tremors around a magnitude of three on the Richter scale would be the worst-case scenario.
The earthquakes were felt by a small number of people but neither had any structural impact on the surface above, according to the report. However, there is mounting concern in the UK and other European countries, most notably France, about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, including water contamination and noise pollution issues.
“Seismic activity of up to two or three on the Richter scale occurs all the time, so it is hard to make a judgement if shale gas drilling is actually dangerous,” Dr. Manouchehr Takin, a senior petroleum upstream analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London told Interfax on Wednesday.
Other analysts expressed surprise at the news. “In the United States, unconventional drilling has been going for several years, and there have been no such reports of seismic activity,” IHS energy analyst Claudia Mahn pointed out to Interfax.
“Whether this is something that’s just specific to the Preese Hall location of the well or whether it’s something that’s applicable to the whole of the Bowland shale itself, we’re yet to see. But I think the future for shale in the UK is very much in the balance at the moment,” Joseph Dutton, analyst at Douglas Westwood, told Interfax.