UK regulator removes Cuadrilla's fracking closure order
The UK's remaining shale gas production wells will not be permanently plugged with cement as previously anticipated, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said March 31.
UK shale gas developer Cuadrilla Resources submitted an appeal to the NSTA on March 28 having previously said it received an order to seal up its Preston New Road and Elswick production wells in Lancashire.
Cuadrilla has been given until June 2023 to evaluate credible re-use proposals for the shale gas sites, and the NSTA then expects to reimpose decommissioning requirements.
Preston New Road contains around 37.3 trillion m3 in shale gas reserves. Cuadrilla has claimed UK gas demand could be satisfied by extracting just 10% of these resources.
The Lancashire project is the only active shale concession in England. Seismic events at Cuadrilla's licence, considered a pilot test for future shale activity, prompted the UK government to temporarily ban new projects in 2019, although the ruling conservative government says the ban will be lifted if safety criteria can be met.
That ambiguity has come under scrutiny following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. While the UK does not need Russian gas directly, it only imports around 4% of its needs from Russia, the business secretary has questioned the logic of fully abandoning Cuadrilla's wells. A move to reintroduce English shale licensing is plausible, however it would present election risks for the government, which depends heavily on votes from Lancashire and other northern English regions.