Drill, drill, drill v fill, fill, fill: Regulator demands UK’s last fracking wells are concreted over… as Donald Trump’s pro-gas policy gets going in the US

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Britain’s last remaining gas fracking sites are to be concreted over after the industry regulator demanded they be put out of use. 

Cuadrilla said it was ‘plugging and abandoning’ its exploratory site at Preston New Road, starting next month.

In 2019, the then Tory government introduced a moratorium on fracking in the UK in part because of tremors caused by the extraction of shale gas at the site on the outskirts of Blackpool.

The ban was lifted by Liz Truss in her brief premiership, only to be restored by her successor Rishi Sunak.  

However, critics of the decision to abandon the technology – which sees high-pressure water pumped into bedrock to release gas – have compared the situation to that in America.

In his first days in office, president Trump declared a national energy emergency to boost drilling and speed up pipeline construction in the US.

Trump, a Republican who campaigned on a promise to ‘drill baby drill,’ has said the declaration will speed permitting and approval of energy projects to fix what he has called an inadequate and unaffordable US energy supply.

In response to the Cudrilla announcement, Lord Mackinlay, chair of the climate-sceptic 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 homegrown energy supplies. It seems crazy to salt the earth in this needless and reckless way.’

Cuadrilla said it was ‘plugging and abandoning’ its exploratory site at Preston New Road, starting next month.

In 2019, the then Tory government introduced a moratorium on fracking in the UK in part because of tremors caused by the extraction of shale gas at the site on the outskirts of Blackpool.

In 2019, the then Tory government introduced a moratorium on fracking in the UK in part because of tremors caused by the extraction of shale gas at the site on the outskirts of Blackpool.

In his first days in office, president Trump declared a national energy emergency to boost drilling and speed up pipeline construction in the US.

In his first days in office, president Trump declared a national energy emergency to boost drilling and speed up pipeline construction in the US.

A minor earthquake struck near the Preston New Road site in February 2023, disturbing dogs and rumbling cabinets, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. 

The 1.5 magnitude tremor struck at a depth of 2km outside the village of Weeton.

Cuadrilla said it would spend six weeks filling in shafts after receiving ‘formal notification issued by the regulator, North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in relation to the plugging and abandonment of both wells.’

CEO Francis Egan said: ‘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. That dependence will continue for the next several decades.

‘Yet nearly two thirds of all the gas we use comes from abroad, including liquefied natural gas from countries like Algeria, Qatar, Egypt and Angola. 

‘Domestically produced gas is four times cleaner than LNG imports and it’s possible to have a reliable and secure supply, produced here at home.

‘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.

‘As President Zelensky pointed out earlier this month, European nations are still far too exposed to Russian gas supply. 

‘Britain should do what it does best and look to help extricate the continent from Moscow’s orbit. 

‘We can do this by getting our hands on some of the 37 trillion cubic metres of gas under our feet, not by pouring concrete down our gas wells.’

Wall Street expects US oil and gas companies to keep a lid on spending in 2025 and keep their focus on generating shareholder returns, despite Trump’s actions.

Big Oil begins reporting fourth-quarter results this week, and outlooks for the coming year should reflect the dissonance between Trump’s oil and gas-maximizing agenda and investor expectations. 

The industry has pushed in recent years to drive down costs and increase production by using more efficient technology rather than drilling many new wells.

Producers also must contend with lower global oil prices as the post-pandemic demand rebound runs its course and as China’s economy struggles.

Benchmark Brent crude oil prices are projected to average $74 per barrel in 2025, down from $81 in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

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