Ineos calls for UK government to reduce seismic thresholds
Ineos has asked UK government officials to change the shale seismicity limit from what Ineos calls “an unworkable 0.5 to a more sensible level on the Richter scale” to help companies development shale gas onshore the UK.
“The current 0.5 level is over 3,000 times lower than the 4.0 level,” typically found in US regulations where “more than 1 million shale wells have been safely drilled,” Ineos said, adding UK current policy will do irreparable damage to the island nation’s manufacturing base.
Ineos is among many companies trying to develop UK shale gas. Previously, privately owned Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. also has asked the Oil & Gas Authority for changes in the induced seismicity regulations.
Induced onshore seismicity has prompted numerous shutdowns in hydraulic fracturing operations in the Bowland shale. UK regulations require companies stop fracturing and investigate whenever any seismic monitoring reading that registers at least 0.5 in magnitude.
Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos chairman, called the government’s position, “Unworkable, unhelpful, and playing politics with the country’s future.” He added that planning policy remains slow, inordinately expensive, and virtually unworkable.
Compared with the number of US wells completed using fracturing, Ratcliffe said, “The UK, by contrast, has no coherent energy policy.”
Ratcliffe noted the US Permian basin produces twice the amount of gas compared with the UK North Sea. Separately, a UK business lobbying group previously said UK shale gas development could lessen the nation’s future dependence on gas imports.
The Institute of Directors said, “Shale gas could be a new North Sea for Britain, creating tens of thousands of jobs, supporting our manufacturers, and reducing gas imports.”
In late 2018, Cuadrilla again stopped hydraulic fracturing operations at its Preston New Road natural gas drilling site in Lancashire, northwest England, after minor tremors were detected. Fracturing in the Bowland shale has been halted three times since October (OGJ Online, Dec. 12, 2018).
Contact Paula Dittrick at [email protected].
Paula Dittrick | Senior Staff Writer
Paula Dittrick has covered oil and gas from Houston for more than 20 years. Starting in May 2007, she developed a health, safety, and environment beat for Oil & Gas Journal. Dittrick is familiar with the industry’s financial aspects. She also monitors issues associated with carbon sequestration and renewable energy.
Dittrick joined OGJ in February 2001. Previously, she worked for Dow Jones and United Press International. She began writing about oil and gas as UPI’s West Texas bureau chief during the 1980s. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska in 1974.
