Posted on 09/21/2011 5:08:02 PM PDT by decimon
An energy firm which has been test drilling for controversial "shale gas" in Lancashire has said it has found vast gas resources underground.
Cuadrilla Resources began testing for gas on the Fylde Coast in March, using a technique known as "fracking".
It said it had found 200 trillion cubic feet of gas under the ground, which if recovered could provide 5,600 jobs in the UK, 1,700 of those in Lancashire.
Opponents to the process believe it produces damaging carbon emissions.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Ping
Not a big fan of fracking but Lancashire could use the boost to their economy.
An article about large deposits of shale gas in Poland yesterday and Great Britain today. This stuff seems to be everywhere once someone gets around to looking.
I'm not against it but I am wary. It becomes a frenzy and you have everyone and their mother running around with drilling rigs. Not a pretty picture, if you know what I mean. ;-)
200 trillion cubic feet and 4000 holes in blackburn, lancashire
Too bad the environmental laws in the UK prevent them from taking care of themselves. This production of gas will be stopped by the courts and left to some future generation that does not have its head up its ass.
I hope it is everywhere. For some time there's been talk about the energy stranglehold the Russians were getting on Europe. Finds like this one could change that.
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill...
I was listening to an interview with the head of the company that has done the research/plans to do the fracking on BBC radio earlier and he seemed very optimistic about being able to carry it out.
One concern I have is that if fracking is as destructive as claimed, lancashire is a very small (less than 2,000sq miles) and most of it is populated. I would hate to see the famous moors turned into something akin to the Alberta oil sands
1 TCF of NG is the BTU equivalent of 8.7 Billion gallons of gasoline. So this works out to about 1600 plus Billion gallons of gasoline. Substantial find if they are allowed to develop it.
And "Why", may I ask?
Fracking has been a common practice in Texas for sixty years now -- since the early fifties -- without any adverse effects whatsoever.
In fact, I live in the middle of one of the bigger shale gas plays, the Barnett Shale, which has brought only jobs, economic activity and prosperity to the area -- without any adverse environmental impact!
So, what is it that feeds your reluctance? I'd really like to know.
Wherever did you get the idea that fracking is "destructive"?
I live in the middle of the Barnett Shale and there is absolutely nothing "destructive" about it.
It's not like mining tar sands. It's like drilling a well. Which, upon completion, is reduced to a wellhead.
Really, where did you get that idea?
Your lack of information on the matter of fracking does not stand you in good stead for offering an opinion. Please consider some research to understand basics like hydraulic fracturing has nothing to do with oil sands.
There HAS to be a natural reaction to the ground water with this type of drilling, it is not possible that “stuff” ( I am not a scientist )does not leech into the ground water, which you and your neighbors drink and wash in!
I am not necessarily predisposed to hating on the technology, but the proof of fracking safety is not predominately self evident. Should I be mistaken, I would welcome your evidence, please share.
First of all, I said ‘as claimed’, as in by other people. Not myself. I am happy to admit my ignorance on such matters. For a linguist, I make a lousy geologist.
Secondly, the allusion to oil sands was an aesthetic reference rather than a comparison of the relative extraction techniques.
You do realize, don't you, that drinking water comes from the water table that is within 100' from the surface.
You probably don't realize that fracking takes place in hard rock strata 8-12,000 ft underground.
In other words, there is overe one and up to two miles of solid rock between the drinking water and the depths where fracking is taking place.
You don't have to be a scientist to understand that "fracking" materials (which are mostly, you guessed it, water and sand) aren't going to "leech" through two miles of solid rock.
There has never been a proven case of groundwater contamination by fracking in Texas. In over sixty years. And tens of thousands of wells. Not that the enviro-whackos haven't tried.
Lancashire can relax.
Please feel free to join me as a charter member in the Absolutely Amazed Club for the gullibility of some FReepers for non-factual MSM baloney on fracking. We’ll have an organizational meeting soon and I’m nominating you as the Social Chair for appropriate libations.
I do realize that I have a well that is 650 feet deep where my well water comes from, and i heartily dislike the fact that it’s full of minerals.
Good, and you?
The fracking is done thousands of feet below the water table. If there was any way for the fracking fluids to leak out of the formation, the gas would not have been there to begin with; it would have leaked out eons ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.