UK shale gas impact on energy supplies ‘a decade away’

IT will be at least 10 years before UK shale gas exploration and production makes a significant impact on domestic energy supplies, according to a survey of majority of industry players.

One hundred of the most prominent players in the nascent UK shale industry were surveyed, with 64% of stakeholders saying they believe that it will take at least a decade for shale gas exploitation to make a meaningful impact.

 

The survey, by law firm Pinsent Masons, also found that 55% of industry see local opposition and ‘nimbyism’ as the biggest challenge and barrier to the shale gas becoming a domestic resource.

Meanwhile, 60% supported proposals for a single planning and licensing regime responsible for planning, environment and health and safety permits – reflecting reservations that the current regime is fit for purpose. Despite that, 52% of survey respondents credit the Conservative party with devising the clearest policies to promote exploration and production of shale gas in the UK.

The survey comes just a day after it was reported that the government is reviewing whether to change trespass laws to make it easier for energy companies to carry out fracking beneath people’s homes without permission.

Paul Rice, head of client relationships for energy and natural resources at Pinsent Masons, said: “Unlike other energy resources in the UK, shale gas is a new and relatively unknown quantity, triggering much concern. It is widely accepted that prudent controls will play a major role in providing reassurance.Given the clear concerns expressed by industry around local opposition, it is clear that transparency of process and genuine communication with local residents around those controls will be perhaps the most significant factors in determining the future of shale gas production in the UK, almost irrespective of community incentive packages.” 

Respondents to the survey, conducted between October and December 2013, included members of government bodies such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Oil & Gas and professionals in related fields such as planning, environment and wider oil and gas industry specialists.