In a surprise move last week, UK Business Secretary Greg Clark made approval for fracking conditional on an assessment of company finances. This seems to mark a distinct shift in policy compared to the gung-ho approach to fracking under David Cameron. The apparent cause of Clark’s caution concerns Third Energy’s …
Read More »Helm review pours cold water on fracking
The big surprise in the Government’s Cost of Energy review by energy economist Dieter Helm is that fracking gets just one mention; and only then in a global rather than UK context: “Technological change within the energy sector is profound. Fracking and shale oil and shale gas have already changed …
Read More »When the party comes to an end
Nicole Foss famously compared the oil industry to a late night drinking binge. The early oil found in pressurised deposits just 70 feet beneath the ground was the best booze. The North Sea was the cheap stuff. Hydraulically fractured shale oil and tar sands, though, are the last-ditch equivalent …
Read More »Fracking companies in trouble as investment dries up
Despite the upbeat propaganda put out by the fracking companies and repeated by the mainstream media, UK frackers are in serious trouble. In response to a freedom of information request by independent journalist Russell Scott, the UK government has released papers that show that the industry is unable to secure …
Read More »In Britain, unprofitable fracking is green energy
Renewable energy is usually presented as the sensible alternative to domestic (fracking) gas. However, in Britain at least, the two are essential components of the same suite of technologies. This is because of the poor choices made by the UK government that force solar and wind energy to go hand …
Read More »Unprofitable fracking just became the only means of keeping Britain’s lights on
Britain just lost three quarters of its natural gas storage capacity, leaving it dependent upon gas imports from as far afield as Qatar and Russia. Centrica, the owner of the Rough storage site in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire has applied for permission to close the facility …
Read More »Cuadrilla responds to financial pressures
Just months Cuadrilla’s CEO Francis Egan raised questions about the profitability of UK fracking; he has taken an axe to the company’s finances. According to Jillian Ambrose in the Telegraph: “Cuadrilla has cut deep into its spending and reduced its workforce by a fifth to stem its mounting losses… “The …
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