Fracking firm Cuadrilla to permanently abandon controversial UK sites | Fracking

The owner of shale fracking firm Cuadrilla will permanently plug and abandon its two shale wells in Lancashire, drawing a line on Britain’s failed fracking industry.

Cuadrilla set out plans to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Preston New Road (PNR) Lancashire shale exploration site a little over two years after the government brought an end to fracking in England.

Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, said the government’s oil and gas regulator had ordered the “ridiculous” shutdown of the wells in the northern Bowland Shale gas formation despite Europe’s gas supply crisis.

The UK’s failed shale industry consistently argued that fracking could help to secure gas supplies, but the claims were disputed by leading industry experts which warned that shale gas would not help to lower UK energy bills.

The government brought in a de facto ban on fracking in late 2019 after years of bitter opposition from climate campaigners and local protest groups after a study by the industry regulator warned that fracking could not be carried out safely without the risk of triggering earth tremors.

Egan said: “At a time when the UK is spending billions of pounds annually importing gas from all corners of the globe, and gas prices for hard-pressed UK households are rocketing, the UK government has chosen this moment to ask us to plug and abandon the only two viable shale gas wells in Britain.”

More details to follow …