Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Could Britain become the Saudi Arabia of shale?

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British Geological Survey today estimates that the amount of shale gas trapped in the North (the so-called Bowland shale basin) is 1,330 trillion cubic feet. This would be the biggest figure in the world. As the graphic below suggests – America has 682tr, Argentina 774tr and China 1,275tr. These are the ‘technically recoverable’ amounts of shale, and the BGS estimate is for total UK capacity. “The proportion of gas that it may be possible to extract is unknown as it depends on the economic, geological and social factors that will prevail at each operation,” it says.

This leaves open an intriguing possibility: that Britain could become the Saudi Arabia of shale. To put this figure into perspective, if only one tenth of our shale were recoverable it would still be enough for 50 years of UK consumption, according to the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

The cover story of this week’s Spectator (non-subscribers can join us here)

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