Fracking: UK shale reserves may be smaller than previously estimated
The recovery of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing or fracking has been a slow moving and controversial affair in the UK over the past decade.
"To put that in context," wrote former Prime Minister David Cameron at the time,"even if we extract just a tenth of that figure, that is still the equivalent of 51 years' gas supply."Now, scientists at the University of Nottingham and the BGS have developed a new method for analysing the gas content of shale, which they believe gives them a more accurate estimate of the overall potential.
"The data we've got from the two shales we've looked at are very consistent - and gas companies Cuadrilla and Third Energy have just published two papers in the last year where they have taken core samples and measured the gas that's evolved and that data is very, very consistent with our own data." "Abundant hydrocarbons may have been generated in the past, but have leaked away to the Earth's surface many millions of years ago. Not only have all those hydrocarbon horses bolted, but there is no longer a secure stable door to retain very large quantities of present-day gas in these shales."
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