UK Shale: One Step Forward, Two Back

摘要

UK plans to go for broke on shale gas in the hope of emulating the US revolution aren't really working (WGI Jun. 14' 17). True, UK shale explorer Cuadrilla Resources announced last week it had started drilling a pilot well at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire, northwestern England, where it hopes to begin hydraulic fracturing by the end of the year. That could prompt prospective shale explorers IGas and Third Energy and petrochemical group Ineos — which recently bought over 1.2 million acres of shale licenses across the UK — to follow suit. But Cuadrilla hasn't found it easy to reach even this stage. In 2011, it was forced to suspend exploration at another Lancashire test well following small earthquakes, and the government announcement last year that it would allow drilling to restart led to protests by environmental activists and the local community, and damage to a drilling rig.