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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK ministers are hoping to give energy companies the right to run shale gas pipelines under private land without being affected by trespass laws, according to the BBC on Tuesday.

The BBC said Whitehall sources have confirmed that the planned move will be included in the Queen's Speech as part of an upcoming Infrastructure Bill.

The new law would see companies being able to install pipes to transport gas under private land without fear of breaking trespass laws, though they would still have to get planning permission to drill for shale gas.

However, the BBC said that changes to the Infrastructure Bill would give the affected landowners the right to compensation.

Ministers in the UK have worried that other European countries may achieve the investment it wants in the developing industry and that landowners or anti-fracking protesters could use existing laws to block shale gas extraction in the country.

?Like any other industrial activity, oil and gas operations require access permission from landowners. But there is an existing legal route by which operators can apply for access where this can?t be negotiated," a UK Department of Energy & Climate Change spokesman said in a statement to Alliance News. "We?re currently considering whether this existing route is fit for purpose."

A major conference on the possible economic benefits of fracking is to be held in Blackpool on Thursday.

The shale industry in the UK is undergoing a major push, with companies like Total SA, Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, IGas Energy PLC and Egdon Resources developing fracking operations around the country.

Hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, involves extracting gas trapped in shale by pumping in pressurised water and chemicals.

In the US, fuel prices have falling sharply as fracking has become commonplace across such states as North Dakota and Mississippi.

However, so far in Europe fracking has had mixed results - often being either controversial or unreliable. In the UK, there have been major protests against the method, which critics fear will pollute water tables in rural areas and may cause small earthquakes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27110655

By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1

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