Latest news with #Cuadrilla
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Energy firm to begin work on closing fracking site
Energy firm Cuadrilla has announced it will start work on plugging the UK's only two shale gas wells in February - around two months after the deadline for doing so passed. The site on Preston New Road, Blackpool, was the country's first horizontal fracking site but the process was banned in 2019 after more than 120 tremors were recorded during drilling. Environmentalist groups and local communities staged lengthy anti-fracking protests. The two wells were meant to be decommissioned by midnight on 8 December 2024 or the firm would be in breach of Lancashire County Council's planning laws. Cuadrilla said work to plug the wells and remove valves and surface pipework would begin in "the second half of February" and was expected to take approximately six weeks. The firm said it would be moving equipment onto the site at this time following formal notification from regulator, North Sea Transition Authority, that the two wells must be plugged. A Cuadrilla spokesperson said they would be removing tubing from one of the two wells and, once completed, "the rig required for the bulk of the plugging and abandonment operation will arrive on site". "We currently expect the rig to arrive towards the end of February," they added. In October, residents living near the site spoke of their frustration at the time it was taking to dismantle the site, expressing concern that the firm would miss the deadline. In December, Lancashire County Council told the BBC it had "powers to compel a landowner or operator to comply with conditions to a planning permission". A spokesperson said the council had been in discussion with Cuadrilla in recent months as to how the restoration of the site could be progressed. The BBC has approached Lancashire County Council for comment. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer, to release the gas inside. Cuadrilla had previously said fracking would create jobs in the north of England and "help tackle spiralling gas prices". But the process of injecting fluid at high pressure into the rock can cause tremors, which is what happened in Lancashire, resulting in the practice being banned. Cuadrilla, which had already been given a two-year extension to dismantle the wells and restore the land, was also told the site must be returned to agricultural land by June of this year. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. Fracking site decommissioning too slow - neighbours Cuadrilla Lancashire County Council
BBC News
30-01-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Blackpool: Energy firm to begin work on closing fracking site
Energy firm Cuadrilla has announced it will start work on plugging the UK's only two shale gas wells in February - around two months after the deadline for doing so site on Preston New Road, Blackpool, was the country's first horizontal fracking site but the process was banned in 2019 after more than 120 tremors were recorded during groups and local communities staged lengthy anti-fracking two wells were meant to be decommissioned by midnight on 8 December 2024 or the firm would be in breach of Lancashire County Council's planning laws. Cuadrilla said work to plug the wells and remove valves and surface pipework would begin in "the second half of February" and was expected to take approximately six firm said it would be moving equipment onto the site at this time following formal notification from regulator, North Sea Transition Authority, that the two wells must be plugged.A Cuadrilla spokesperson said they would be removing tubing from one of the two wells and, once completed, "the rig required for the bulk of the plugging and abandonment operation will arrive on site". "We currently expect the rig to arrive towards the end of February," they October, residents living near the site spoke of their frustration at the time it was taking to dismantle the site, expressing concern that the firm would miss the December, Lancashire County Council told the BBC it had "powers to compel a landowner or operator to comply with conditions to a planning permission".A spokesperson said the council had been in discussion with Cuadrilla in recent months as to how the restoration of the site could be BBC has approached Lancashire County Council for comment. What is fracking? Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer, to release the gas had previously said fracking would create jobs in the north of England and "help tackle spiralling gas prices".But the process of injecting fluid at high pressure into the rock can cause tremors, which is what happened in Lancashire, resulting in the practice being which had already been given a two-year extension to dismantle the wells and restore the land, was also told the site must be returned to agricultural land by June of this year. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK's last two fracking sites ordered to close
Britain's last fracking sites are to close after the regulator ordered the wells to be sealed over. Two wells at the Preston New Road site near Blackpool will be filled with concrete and abandoned, eight years after owners first produced shale gas at the site. Cuadrilla, which owns the site, said it would start work on plugging the two exploration wells with cement next month in a process expected to last six weeks. The company has argued that shale gas from the wells could help the UK's energy independence at a time when the country faces strong competition for international resources and has committed to ending oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. Analysis by Cuadrilla of National Gas data has found that the UK's gas stockpiles are down more than a third on last year's level. 'The UK is heavily reliant on natural gas to keep the lights on, to heat our homes and to provide cost effective energy to British industry,' said Francis Egan, the ceo of Cuadrilla. 'Keeping these wells open doesn't cost taxpayers a penny, but once they are concreted over then we lose easy access to supplies of shale gas that could be used for decades to come.' Fracking is the process of injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into cracks between rocks in order to release the trapped gas. Cuadrilla began drilling at the Lancashire site in 2017, producing the first shale gas the following year, but work was halted over safety concerns. A moratorium was placed on fracking in 2019 after a seismic event of magnitude 2.9 during operations at the site and a subsequent investigation, which found that it was not possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes. The ban was briefly lifted by Liz Truss, and an order for Cuadrilla's site to be decommissioned in 2022 was revoked after the energy crisis provoked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Later deadlines imposed by the North Sea Transition Authority, the industry regulator, at the end of last year, were passed and a new deadline of June 30 2025 was agreed in December. Critics have pointed out that any shale gas produced in the UK would be sold on the international market. Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said the decision to decommission the Preston New Road site was 'gross negligence, both financial and for energy security'. 'We have hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayer-owned shale gas we should be using,' he said. 'We should adopt Trump's slogan: 'drill baby drill'.' Fracking advocates have struggled to win support among the general public, with backing for the industry at just 25 per cent in the Government's public attitudes tracker in 2022. The same tracker last year found that over half of people disagreed with the UK ramping up production of its own oil and gas. Ami McCarthy, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: 'The best way to increase the UK's energy security and reduce risks related to gas storage supplies is to get off gas. 'A fully renewable energy system, with sufficient storage, wouldn't encounter these issues and, more importantly, it would cut emissions helping to tackle the climate crisis. 'This final throw of the dice from Cuadrilla is almost laughable, but the joke's over and it's time for the shale gas company to pack up and frack off for good.' Lord Mackinlay, the chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, said: 'Back in 2022, I asked the previous Conservative government not to commit the madness of concreting up a promising and valuable shale gas site. 'Thankfully, they listened, but now Labour appears willing to close off an incredible opportunity to secure home-grown energy supplies. It seems crazy to salt the earth in this needless and reckless way.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
