Platts: UK shale gas delay was 'scandalous': parliament panel member

The 18-month moratorium on shale gas drilling was a "scandal", member of the UK House of Commons select committee on climate change Peter Lilley said late Monday.

He was speaking at a panel session launching a report into the difficulties that the UK's energy policy is facing, "Power from Fossil Fuels," published by lobby group Carbon Connect, and written by a range of policy experts, engineers and academics.

Coal-fired generating plant is being closed down with immediate effect, and possible investors in new plant -- who are global players, with plenty of options about where to spend their money, as the co-chair of Carbon Connect Charles Hendry pointed out at the same event -- are facing a bewildering range of uncertainties.

Wholesale gas prices are too high to make combined cycle gas turbines profitable, and how the government will address this problem has not been decided.  MORE