Fracking in the pipeline as licence blocks offered

IGas, one of the leading producers of hydrocarbons onshore in Britain, is pleased to announce that the Company has been offered a total of 6 new licences, covering 7 blocks, in the first group of licences awarded in the UK’s 14th Onshore Oil and Gas Licensing round.

Precise details of the licence blocks have yet to be disclosed or analysed, and whilst the new blocks will include shale gas and fracking projects others will be conventional oil and gas ventures.

A second group of 132 further blocks has been subjected to detailed assessment.

Energy Minister Lord Bourne said: “As part of our long-term plan to build a more resilient economy, create jobs and deliver secure energy supplies, we continue to back our onshore oil and gas industry and the safe development of shale gas in the UK”.

“This is the starting gun to the fight for the future of our countryside”, said Daisy Sands, Greenpeace head of energy, in a statement.

“The effect of widespread fracking across Yorkshire would have a huge impact on the lives of rural communities all across the county, as their lives become blighted by endless HGV traffic, noisy drilling, air pollution, health impacts and threats to their water supplies”.

The Oil & Gas Authority, the UK’s newly created regulator, today revealed that 27 new licence blocks have been offered to companies in the initial tranche of the round. They are subject to a process known as Appropriate Assessment under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, the findings of which are now out for consultation.

OGA chief executive Andy Samuel said: “With nearly 100 applications received, the 14th onshore round has attracted significant interest and high-quality proposed work programmes from a range of oil and gas companies”. The licences for all offered blocks will then be granted after the terms and conditions have been finalised.

The 27 blocks of land of 10km2 each – a total of 2,700 sq km (1000 sq miles) – will not be formally offered until a second much larger tranche, covering areas in the Northeast, West Country and the Isle of Wight believed to be ecologically sensitive, have been assessed under environmental measures.

“It’s important we press on and get shale moving, while maintaining strong environmental controls”, Bourne said. “Investment in shale could reach £33bn and support 64,000 jobs, creating financial security, whilst providing a cost-efficient bridge to lower-carbon energy use”.

In June, Lancashire Council refused two planning applications from shale developers Cuadrilla after a series of public protests.

Catherine Howard, a planning partner at global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, said: “The award of a petroleum exploration licence does not in itself authorise companies to carry out shale gas exploration (fracking)”.

Matt Williams, RSPB Climate Change Policy Officer, said: “Sites of Special Scientific Interest, such as Attenborough Gravel Pits and Fairburn & Newton Ings, are up for grabs for fracking companies who will be able to apply for planning permission to frack anywhere within these newly licensed areas. The longer we delay, the more we lose out”.

“There remains some distance to go, but the Government looks to be making real progress in delivering the benefits of shale to the UK”.