UK Shale Companies Target 40 Wells to 2015

Explorers are targeting the drilling of upwards of 40 exploratory wells in the UK's search for commercially viable shale gas.

Ken Cronin, chief executive of the UK's Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG), told Reuters that companies including IGas, Dart Energy, Egdon Resources, Reach Exploration, Europa Oil and Gas and Aurora Petroleum, were considering the drilling 20 to 40 wells prior to 2015.  UK shale gas pioneer Cuadrilla is the only operator to drill for shale gas to date.

Cronin said that some well would be “plain vanilla exploration wells and some will be hydraulically fractured."

UKOOG has attempted to respond to concerns over the shale gas extraction process of hydraulic fracturing by drawing up guidelines encouraging companies to undertake ‘best practices”, including the disclosure all chemicals used in fracking fluids.
 
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has placed recoverable shale reserves at around 5.3 trillion feet, although a significant increase in this number is expect in a updated report due in the coming weeks.
 
Industry insiders say the BGS could report between 1,200 trillion and 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas, located principally in northern England and the Hampshire basin in the Home Counties, including Berkshire, Sussex and Kent. There are also pockets of shale gas in central Scotland, Wales and the Midlands.
 
Shale gas is seen as a potential resource to replace dwindling North Sea supplies. Forecasts indicate that the UK could be dependent on imports for 80 per cent of its gas needs by 2030.  Should recoverable shale gas reserves just reach just 10 per cent of 1,500 trillion cubic feet of gas, the UK would hold enough shale gas to heat the nation’s residences for 100 years.