UK Stoke-on-Trent Seeks Partner to Tap Coalbed Gas

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is investigating tapping into the city's traditional coal beds to power up future growth and prosperity, seeking partners to explore options for extracting methane. Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, UK. 

In its attempt to become a prime location for industrial investment, Stoke-on-Trent sanctioned the foundation of a holding company to exploit new technologies and help provide more energy security ‘for the next decade’.

“The coal beds fired Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial past and made the Potteries famous across the globe. Innovative new technologies mean those same coal beds could help power a new phase in the city’s industrial evolution providing energy direct to local businesses,” commented Council cabinet member for green enterprise Andy Platt in a note released on Tuesday.

According to Platt, preliminary research suggests that there are supplies of gas from un-mined coal that could be extracted, with this coal bed methane potentially triggering economic growth and jobs.

The project, which has already attracted the backing of the local business community, will be discussed at a meeting of full council on September 5.