Fracking opens up industry divide

London - The UK government’s decision to allow the resumption of shale gas exploration in the UK has been welcomed by most - though not all - areas of the process sector.

Chemical manufacturers and engineer were particularly buoyant about the decision that clears the way for restart of exploration activities - halted since May 2011 following minor tremors linked to Cuadrilla Resources’ drilling activities in Lancashire.
While acknowledging concerns in some quarters about the impact on the UK’s climate policy goals, Steve Elliot, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) believes shale gas - produced hydraulic fracturing or fracking - will become an important part of the UK’s energy mix.

“Without gas as a back-up for the current unpredictable and unreliable renewables, the UK has no realistic chance of meeting [its low-carbon] goals,” said Elliott.

The CIA believes that without the benefit of hydro or pumped or other storage of comparable capacity, the only feasible balancing method for wind in the UK will be gas.

Lower-carbon energy technologies, it argues, should not be seen as alternatives to gas, but rather as dependent on gas availability.

“The dual opportunity presented by shale gas can make an essential contribution to our energy and feedstock requirements within the next seven to 10 years and would offer valuable employment solutions and enable us to compete on the world stage with our products and solutions to drive UK economic recovery and growth,” Elliott concluded.

Chemical engineers body the IChemE is, likewise, backing the decision to lift the embargo on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) - injecting thousands of tonnes of water into gas-bearing rock formations - backed by new regulations that it says will reduce the chance of causing earthquakes.

The government has now ruled that the process itself poses no threat to the environment or public, provided it is well-regulated, noted IChemE director of policy and communications Andrew Furlong, adding that “shale gas presents an enormous opportunity for the UK.

“The health, safety and environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracking can be managed effectively as long as the activity is fully risk assessed and operational best practice is implemented through appropriate regulation.”

“Fracking is an established technology that has been used in the oil and gas sector for decades. Furthermore, the UK has 60 years’ experience of regulating the oil and gas industries, offshore and onshore.

“Chemical and process engineers have extensive knowledge of the exploration and production of natural gas.”

The move to exploit the UK’s shale gas resources were, however, provoked hostility in other quarters – as typified by the reaction of ADBA (the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association) chief executive Charlotte Morton to the government’s decision.

“It is criminal that the debate about unconventional gas risks excludes the best source we have: biogas from anaerobic digestion,” complained Morton. “Upgraded to biomethane it is already replacing fossil gas in the grid, and has the potential to meet 10% of the UK’s domestic gas demand.

“The government should be putting green gas first, by giving long term policy certainty to investors and developers, and ensuring that policies such as local authority waste collections make as much organic material available for digestion as possible.”

Speakers at the ADBA’s national conference, on 12 Dec, also voiced concerns over the government’s policy on gas, with Steve Wallace, Aldersgate group calling for biogas to be a “revolution in gas supply.”

For Jonathon Porritt of Forum for the Future: “The government’s failure to recognise green gas in the gas strategy is “staggering”, and inconsistent with our low carbon future.

“AD needs the consistency across government that the Office for Unconventional Gas is giving for shale.”