Info11 Oct 2017 22:03
Somerset: cider, cheddar, Glastonbury and… extreme energy? Still reeling from the green-lighting of Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor last autumn, a quieter announcement about energy generation in Somerset was made in December 2016. This time, it concerned fracking.
“I am not going to give up until we see gas being produced from the areas we’ve been working on for many, many years.”
The CEO of South Western Energy, Gerwyn Williams, appeared on BBC Points West radio programme to announce the plans, with a disclaimer that there were still planning and environmental permits to get through. The drilling itself, he said, could take place within two years. The exploratory drilling of the type Williams proposes looks first for conventional oil and gas, with the possibility of then using fracking to determine the extent of further ‘unconventional’ reserves.
Given the regulatory hurdles it’s far from a sure thing, but, Williams told the BBC, “I am not going to give up until we see gas being produced from the areas we’ve been working on for many, many years.”
Williams, an ex-miner and attempted fossil fuel entrepreneur, has indeed been trying to hit the shale and coal bed methane reserves under the West Country and South Wales for years. He’s the man behind most of the successful bids for licences to drill that were offered in the government’s 2014 ‘14th licensing round’.
PEDLs (petroleum exploration and development licenses) were granted for blocks of land throughout the South West, including the Forest of Dean/Wye Valley areas of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, and chunks of Wiltshire and Devon, along with coastal Somerset. Previously licensed PEDLs, spread over parts of South Wales, were also won by Williams’ other companies: Coastal Oil and Gas and UK Methane Ltd.
But Williams has, like many other would-be frackers, hit roadblocks. The ‘dash for gas’ that a few years ago was expected to occur didn’t materialise on a big scale either nationally or in these regions, much to the chagrin of a government hell-bent on opening the hellmouth.
PEDLing in the wrong direction
a giant white fat man sucking on a black milkshake with a village green floating on top
UK government energy policy.
Cartoon credit: www.KyleVonbrown.com
PEDLs give the license owner the right to explore for oil and gas within the area of the block, subject to landowner and planning permission, environmental permits and other regulatory hurdles. The first step is an exploratory well to ascertain the extent of the reserves beneath and whether they can be exploited. The government is so strongly in favour of drilling for gas that it has implemented a tax break regime, allowing 100% of the cost of plant and equipment to be set against taxable profits in the first year. George Osborne boasted at the time of making the tax regime the “most generous for shale
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