Fracking firm: We could be pumping gas this year

Extracting natural gas from shale rocks could begin within a year if the Government lifts its controversial ban, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. 

Energy exploration firm IGas has said it could prepare a planning application within weeks for a location in Nottinghamshire which could heat up to 125,000 homes. 

It added that, with Government help to speed up the process, it could begin a ‘commercial pilot’ in as little as nine months after approval was received – producing gas that would be useable in homes. 

Controversy: Cuadrilla’s test fracking site in Lancashire before it was ordered to seal the wells

A ban on pumping natural gas out of shale rocks, known as fracking, has been in place since 2019 after an outcry over earthquakes in Lancashire linked to a pioneering site run by the Cuadrilla company. 

The ban effectively shut down Britain’s fracking industry and Cuadrilla’s wells are due to be sealed permanently in weeks. 

But with Britain facing an energy crisis, Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week reopened the door to shale oil extraction. 

Following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, spikes in oil and gas prices have triggered a debate on how the UK can become less reliant on energy from overseas. 

A clutch of political figures have called for a fresh look at fracking – which involves pumping sand, water and chemicals into rocks at high pressure to release trapped gas or oil – and advocates of the industry made the case for shale gas at a presentation in the House of Commons last week. 

The Mail on Sunday understands that Tory former Transport Minister Chris Grayling and Conservative MP Miriam Cates were among those in attendance at the event. 

The presentation by trade body UK Onshore Oil and Gas, seen by the MoS, claims fracking in Britain could create 64,000 jobs and trigger £33billion of investment. Failure to develop UK shale gas will see £260billion of capital sent overseas, it claims. 

IGas had been developing a shale site at Springs Road in Misson, Nottinghamshire, before the 2019 moratorium. 

Planning permission for the site ran out in 2020 and an application to extend it was refused. IGas plans to formally close the site at the end of the year. It is estimated that if the site was fully developed, it could create ten wells producing between 60billion and 80billion cubic feet of shale gas in total. 

IGas development director Ross Glover said a planning application could be submitted as early as next month if the moratorium were lifted.

He added: ‘There is a significant need for gas and we believe we can help, and much quicker than we originally thought. But we need a streamlined regulatory system which will enable us to get this going.’ 

Charles McAllister, policy manager of UK Onshore Oil and Gas, said: ‘A lifting of the moratorium would not be enough. The Government would need to make sure the planning and permit regimes do not inhibit development.’ The industry has argued that the impact on the environment is not as significant as some fear and that extraction techniques have improved. 

But a softening attitude towards fracking would probably cause a public backlash and anti-fracking campaigners have threatened to stage protests if the moratorium is lifted. 

IGas shares shot up 62 per cent last week – in part due to hopes the fracking ban may be overturned. IGas is worth a modest £36million. Energy giants such as BP and Shell have shunned British shale. 

The renewed focus on fracking comes as Cuadrilla prepares to seal its two wells in Lancashire this week. The Government’s Oil and Gas Authority has set a legal deadline of June 30 to seal the wells with concrete, which is estimated to take two to three months. Cuadrilla is urging the Government to withdraw the instruction.

Life peer Lord Lilley, who attended the Westminster event, called for the Government to move quickly to allow fracking in Britain. He told the MoS: ‘Just do it.’ 

He said Britain is ‘the only country in Western Europe sitting on massive gas reserves’ while at the same time proposing to cement over the top of fresh wells. 

‘People say Putin’s gone mad, but over there they must be thinking we have caught the same infection,’ he added. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk