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UK gives go ahead for resumption of shale gas exploration

2,073 views · Published 15 January 2013 · 0:39 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: News Direct · 2013 · News & Politics

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The British government has lifted restrictions on the practice of drilling for shale gas put in place last year when the controversial technique was linked to two tremors in Lancashire.
Fracking is a process in which fractures in rocks below the earth's surface are opened and widened by injecting chemicals and liquids under high pressure to exploit reserves of natural gas. This animation explains the process of hydraulic fracturing
According to Reuters, "The [fracking] can now resume subject to closer scrutiny for seismic risk and installation of a so-called traffic light system where operations will be automatically stopped in certain conditions.
Currently only shale gas firm Cuadrilla Resources has an exploration licence for shale gas in Britain and it says that production testing in Lancashire is unlikely before March.
Britain is increasingly dependent on gas imports as domestic supply dwindles, with gas output last year slipping below imports for the first time since records began in 1960.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) estimates Britain's onshore shale reserves at 5.3 trillion cubic feet (150 billion cubic metres), which would be enough to meet Britain's gas consumption for one and a half years, although Cuadrilla Resources has put its figure as high as 200 trillion cubic feet." SOURCE: REUTERS

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