UK government targets shale gas growth

Today’s announcement from Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, follows yesterday’s Spending Review in which the chancellor George Osborne outlined plans to save £11.5bn whilst promoting economic growth through investment in sectors including energy, transport and science.

The government says it is taking action to provide the support and policy certainty needed to enable up to £110bn of private sector energy investment, which include a comprehensive package of reforms to enable shale gas exploration.

This burgeoning form of gas is extracted through hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ and it received a boost today with the publication of a report from the British Geological Survey which looked at the potential volume of shale gas across 11 counties in northern England.

It concluded that there is likely to be some 40 trillion cubic metres (1,300 trillion cubic feet) of shale gas in the ground in this area - the Bowland Basin - although the amount that can be extracted will be determined through future exploratory drilling.