Felicity Bradstock

Felicity Bradstock is a freelance writer specialising in Energy and Finance. She has a Master’s in International Development from the University of Birmingham, UK.

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• Labour plans to introduce a “total ban” on fracking this autumn, replacing the current moratorium with permanent legislation.
• Experts say the U.K.’s complex geology makes large-scale fracking unviable and risky compared to U.S. shale formations.
• The move aims to prevent future governments, such as the Reform Party, from reinstating fracking without majority parliamentary approval.

There have been discussions around fracking in the U.K. for years, with the government going back and forth on whether to support new operations. Politicians have explored the potential for fracking, which has been successful for fossil fuel recovery in the United States, while environmentalists have fought against it. While many may have thought that fracking had been banned long ago in the U.K., a decisive ban on the practice had not actually taken place… until now.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock. It requires drilling into the earth to direct a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at a rock layer, to release the gas inside. Wells can be drilled both vertically and horizontally to release the gas. The practice is controversial as the injection of fluid at high pressure into the rock can cause earth tremors – small movements in the earth’s surface. In addition, fracking requires huge quantities of water. 

In recent years, in the U.K., the government has been back and forth on its fracking policy. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss put it back on the table, in the hope of attracting greater funding for fossil fuel production. However, just a month later, her successor Rishi Sunak reinstated the previous moratorium on the practice. Ahead of the 2024 general election, in the Labour Party manifesto, the political party stated plans to ban fracking for good if it came into power.

In addition to environmental concerns, experts suggest that the U.K. terrain is simply not suitable for fracking. Chris Cornelius, the geologist who founded the U.K.’s first fracking company, Cuadrilla Resources, told media sources that the government’s support for the practice was merely a “political gesture” and that “I don’t think there is any chance of fracking in the U.K. in the near term."

From 2004 to 2010, there was an early exploration of fracking in England. Cornelius said that while undertaking exploratory drilling, Cuadrilla discovered that the geology of the U.K. was unsuited to widespread fracking operations. He suggested that no sensible investors would fund operations, as “It’s very challenging geology, compared with North America,” which is more well-suited to fracking operations.

While the U.S. has large, flat, thick shale formations, which are relatively simple to drill into and extract gas from, the U.K. has thinner, more geologically complex and heavily faulted and folded shale formations. The U.K. geology makes it more difficult to drill, exacerbating the threat of earthquakes, as well as making for lower yields.

Now, the U.K. Labour government plans to ban fracking once and for all. In October, Energy Minister Ed Miliband announced that Labour was accelerating plans to introduce a “total ban” on fracking. The Party aims to introduce the ban this autumn. While the current government never planned to permit new fracking projects, the move is mainly directed at preventing the right-wing, populist Reform Party from making such a move if it should come into power.

At present, the U.K. energy minister is permitted to lift the fracking moratorium without a vote in parliament. However, a change in the law would mean that the government would need to put it to a vote and convince the majority of MPs to support fracking, which would be more difficult.

Several communities across the U.K. have spoken out against fracking proposals due to fears of the earthquakes, disruption, and blight to the countryside it causes. Around 187 constituencies across the U.K. that sit above shale gas could be affected by fracking if it were permitted. Miliband now aims to raise awareness about the potential threat of fracking through his countrywide “send the frackers packing” campaign.

The Reform Party, which has grown in popularity over the last year, largely due to its strong stance on immigration and bold promises for the U.K. economy, has pledged to end the moratorium on fracking if it comes into power in 2029. In a recent party conference, the Lincolnshire mayor, Andrea Jenkyns, walked onto stage reiterating President Donald Trump’s words: “drill baby, drill”. Unlike Labour, Reform plans to return to a reliance on traditional energy sources, such as oil and gas, much in the same way as we are seeing in the United States right now, as Trump undoes much of the previous administration’s progress towards a green transition.

After decades of back and forth, the introduction of a ban on fracking would mean that introducing fracking practices for fossil fuel recovery in the future would be far less likely, as achieving this would require a majority political support for the move. Having seen the lifting and reintroduction of the moratorium on fracking several times in recent years, a ban would ensure that no single politician can make this decision alone in the future.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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