Gas glut in the UK

IT’S A BONANZA. Rocks under England contain as much oil and gas per cubic metre as rocks under the North Sea once did, according to new surveys. The finding will give impetus to companies that “The onshore shales are  rich enough and have the right petrology for hydraulic fracturing” want to extract gas by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. “The onshore shales are rich enough in organic material  and have the right petrology  for hydraulic fracturing,” says Alastair Fraser of Imperial College London, who has studied 200 samples of shale rock from  across England. Last year, the British Geological Survey looked for shale gas in northern England and found one area with enough to supply the UK’s needs for 40 years. Fraser has now found organicrich shales further south. The richest was the Kimmeridge Clay, which runs diagonally from the south-west to midway up the  east coast. The Clay has an organic content of up to 20 per cent. Fraser also found oil and gas-rich Oxford Clay in Dorset in the south-west, and under the Weald in the south-east. He presented his results on 4 March at the Shale UK conference in London. Energy company Cuadrilla Resources was besieged by protesters last year after it attempted exploratory drilling  in  Balcombe, Sussex. It now plans to apply for permission to sink two new vertical wells, plus four horizontal wells from each.