Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock.

It was halted in the UK in 2019 amid opposition from green groups and local concerns over earth tremors, but there had been calls to rethink its use, given the soaring cost of energy.
What is fracking?
Fracking involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer in order to release the gas inside.

The wells can be drilled vertically or horizontally in order to release the gas. The term fracking refers to how the rock is fractured apart by the high-pressure mixture.
What has the government said?

Setting out plans to help households and businesses with soaring energy bills, new Prime Minister Liz Truss confirmed she would allow fracking to resume.

She said developers will be able to seek planning permission “where there is local support”, which it’s hoped “could get gas flowing in as soon as six months”.

Previous fracking by Cuadrilla in Cumbria was controversial with local communities. In 2018, before the ban came into affect test drilling faced many delays from protests, including one which lasted almost 100 hours.

In the face of opposition, and concerns from the Oil and Gas Authority, fracking was halted in the UK in 2019.

But in April 2022, following the Russia invasion of Ukraine and rising energy bills, the government said “all options” were on the table to help boost the UK’s domestic energy supply.

Then Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng asked the British Geological Survey (BGS) to consider any changes to the science around the controversial practice.

The government has now said it will publish its report, which it says “suggests more drilling is required to establish data on shale resources and seismic impacts”.

Labour re-stated its opposition to fracking in March when it published its energy policy.

What fracking has taken place in the UK?

Fracking for shale gas in the UK has only taken place on a small scale, and faced several public and legal challenges.

It was indefinitely suspended after an inconclusive report by the Oil and Gas Authority into earth tremors.

Exploration during that period identified large swathes of shale gas across the UK, particularly in northern England.

More than 100 exploration and drilling licences were awarded to firms including Third Energy, IGas, Aurora Energy Resources and Ineos.

Cuadrilla was the only company given consent to begin fracking.

It drilled two wells at a site in Lancashire but faced repeated protests on climate and safety grounds, from local people and campaigners.

The Oil and Gas Authority has told Cuadrilla to permanently concrete and abandon the wells by the end of June 2022.

Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have continued to oppose fracking pending further research into its environmental impact.
Why is it controversial?

The injection of fluid at high pressure into the rock can cause earth tremors – small movements in the earth’s surface. More than 120 tremors were recorded during drilling at Cuadrilla’s New Preston Road site.

Seismic events of this scale are considered minor and are rarely felt by people – but are a concern to local residents.

Fracking also uses huge amounts of water, which must be transported to the site at significant environmental cost.

Campaigners say fracking is distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy, and encourages continued reliance on fossil fuels.

“Shale gas is not the solution to the UK’s energy challenges,” said Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth.
Could fracking lower energy bills?

It is not clear what difference restarting fracking could make to UK energy bills.
Prime Minister Truss said the reversal of the ban is part of a long term strategy to make sure the “[UK] is a net energy exporter by 2040”.

At the moment the UK can only meet 48% of its gas demand from domestic supplies (this would be 54% if it did not export any gas).

A small number of Tory MPs, known as the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, claimed that restarting drilling at Cuadrilla’s two existing wells could be done quickly, and would provide significant supplies.

Cuadrilla itself claimed that “just 10%” of the gas from shale deposits in Lancashire and surrounding areas “could supply 50 years’ worth of current UK gas demand”.

Energy experts dispute this. Mike Bradshaw, professor of global energy at Warwick University, says estimates of how much shale gas the UK has are not the same as the amount of gas that could be produced commercially.

Opponents of fracking point out that even if the ban were reversed, it would take many years for the wells to start producing gas commercially.

Ahead of the lifting of the ban, BBC business editor Simon Jack tweeted a Kwasi Kwarteng quote from March 2022 when he was business secretary which questioned what difference fracking could make:

“No amount of shale gas from wells across rural England would be enough to lower European price any time soon.

“And with the best will in the world, private companies are not going to sell the shale gas they produce to UK consumers below the market price.”
Which other countries use fracking?

It is thought that fracking has given energy security to the US and Canada for the next 100 years, and has presented an opportunity to generate electricity at half the CO2 emissions of coal.

However, the UK’s shale gas reserves are in geologically complex rock layers.

Iain Conn, the former chief executive of energy firm Centrica, told the BBC: “It’s much more difficult to develop shale in the UK than the US… and the quality of our shale is not as good.”

Fracking remains banned in numerous EU countries, including Germany, France and Spain, as well as Australia. Others, such as Brazil and Argentina are split, with some local authorities banning it and others continuing operations.
Source: BBC