Cuadrilla Steps Back at Balcombe

Cuadrilla Resources has withdrawn an application to extend its current permit for drilling and horizontal well testing at a site near Balcombe village in West Sussex when its current drillling permit expires at the end of September.

The UK shale pioneer said that it was moving forth with a new application “to resolve any potential legal ambiguity around how the planning boundary should be drawn for a subsurface horizontal well." 

The company will submit a new application, which will cover the same well testing as in a 2010 proposal and will not seek permission for extra drilling. Cuadrilla has so far drilled a 3,000 ft vertical well at the site and has now begun drilling a well horizontally for 2,000 ft.

In a letter to West Sussex County Council, Cuadrilla said that it "has decided to submit a new planning application for its site at Lower Stumble, Balcombe which will include revised boundary lines showing the extent of the horizontal well which is to be flow tested.”

It said the new permit application would "provide clear benefits to the County Council and the local residents of Balcombe."

The filing will also no longer cover the potential of hydraulic fracturing at Balcombe.  Although Cuadrilla has repeatedly stated that fracking would not be undertaken at the site, opponents pointed to the latitude of the original permissions granted, stoking fears in the local community.

“The replacement scheme will define the terms of our proposal and will make clear that we do not intend to hydraulically fracture the well during this testing operation,” Cuadrilla said.

The new application will also require a new round of public consultation, which will not only delay further drilling, but will also allow opponents the opportunity to influence council.

Ewa Jasiewicz of the No Dash for Gas group told Reuters that environmental campaigners and community groups saw the freeze on Cuadrilla's plans as a "cautious victory."