UKOOG raises its estimate for British shale yields
12 Mar 2019
UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) has claimed that the well production capacity from UK shale is more than 70% greater than previously estimated.
Chief executive Ken Cronin said that a 2013 Institute of Directors report that forecast a 3.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) well production of gas over a 20-year lifetime, with an upper forecast of 4 bcf should be upped to 5.5 bcf – an increase of 72%.
“This is a very significant upgrade to previous estimates. The industry to date has invested between £400m and £500 million in exploring for shale gas in the UK, creating local jobs and supply chain opportunities,” asserted Cronin.
“The UK spends £7 billion at present per year on importing gas into this country, generating next to nothing by way of UK benefits, leaving us less secure and creating a greater environmental impact as gas is shipped and piped in across oceans and continents.”
UKOOG claimed its analysis demonstrated that, for a site with 40 deep drilled horizontal wells as modelled by the IoD, there would be sufficient gas at peak to heat 500,000 homes, provide supply chain benefits in the order of £333 million and £40 million of community and local benefits.
“Last year the UK’s LNG (liquified natural gas) imports grew by 20%, with Russian LNG showing the largest increase at nearly 20 times the 2017 figures – the equivalent to supplying 1.6 million UK homes. Given these new projections, it now makes absolutely no sense to ignore our huge resource of homegrown gas.”
UKOOG said that just 60 operating shale sites would have the capacity to reduce the UK's import dependency by half.
