Fracking could still happen in Lancashire - as firm told not to close wells

Shale gas wells used for fracking will not be sealed in June after regulators lifted an order enforcing a cap to be installed. The firm behind plans to frack, Cuadrilla, had been under instruction to plug its wells at Preston New Road by the end of June 2022. However, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has given the company a stay of execution, in extending the deadline by a year.

The move comes ahead of the publication of the Government’s delayed energy strategy, with Boris Johnson under pressure from Tory MPs to end a moratorium on fracking, LancsLive reports.

Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: “I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the Business Secretary for seeing the light and realising – just in time – how absurd it would have been to force us to pour concrete down Britain’s only two viable shale gas wells in the middle of an energy crisis.

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“But this suspension will have a cul-de-sac ending unless we now reverse the moratorium preventing us from using the wells (and others like them) to get shale gas out of the ground and flowing into British households.”

The NSTA said Cuadrilla applied for consent to keep its wells on March 28. It said: “The North Sea Transition Authority has looked carefully at this application, alongside recent developments, and agreed to withdraw the requirement to decommission the wells by the end of June.

“Cuadrilla now have until the end of June next year to evaluate options for the Preston New Road and Elswick sites. If no credible re-use plans are in place by then, the North Sea Transition Authority expects to reimpose decommissioning requirements."

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