2020 The Year of AJL

The new year looks set to be a pivotal one for fracking in the UK.Despite fracking once again being halted in Lancashire amid concerns over earthquakes linked to the activity on Preston New Road, gas exploration firm Cuadrilla has not given up on its plans to keep drilling.Cuadrilla fracking site on Preston New Road. CEO Francis Egan.The government’s announcement at the start of the General Election drive in November of a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing came after a series of tremors from the site near Little Plumpton in August and a damning report from the Oil and Gas Industry which said it was impossible to predict the likelihood or scale of earthquakes from a well.While welcomed by anti-fracking campaigners, opponents of the controversial method of drilling for shale gas remain wary that a loophole was created by the Government saying that if technology could better predict tremors associated with fracking, then it might relax the temporary ban.At the time Cuadrilla, which has been testing the pressure in the second of the two wells it has drilled, said it would work with the Government to explore the technological possibilities.And this week, the gas exploration firm’s parent company, mining specialist AJ Lucas of Australia, has said that in 2020 it would be exploring new areas for gas extraction licences and was encouraged by the fact the pro-fracking Conservative government won with a big majority in the December election.Operations at the shale gas extraction site were recently paused by Cuadrilla as a precaution after an earth tremor measuring 0.4 was detected by sensors. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)It said in a statement to shareholders: “During calendar year 2020, Cuadrilla will conduct an examination of various acreages ahead of an anticipated resumption of exploration activities.“While the current timing of a lifting of the moratorium remains unclear, the results of the recent UK election provide the industry with comfort that the long-awaited period of stability will return to the UK and will allow the government to address priorities facing the United Kingdom post Brexit such as the domestic energy opportunities.”But one leading geologist has said that even if the Government does give Cuadrilla the go ahead to continue its testing work, the state of the shale rock deep beneath Lancashire in the Bowland Shale layer, may not be good enough to allow fracking to move on to successful full production in the way that areas of the USA has seen.Professor John Gluyas director of the Durham Energy Institute at Durham University, said that the shale rocks in the UK were not as uniform in structure as the continental shale in the USA.And he added that the Bowland shale structure appeared to be softer and more “gooey” than the “crunchy” shales in the USA.He said that meant that when high pressure water and sand is used to blast open fractures in the shale to allow the trapped gas out, the muddier UK rock then begins to close up the gaps more quickly.He said: “These are mud rocks and they are very shaley, soft and gooey. Even with proppants (materials such as sand designed to keep the fractures open so the gas can be harvested) the muddy rock will eventually mould itself around them.