Cuadrilla to submit plans for UK shale gas exploration well

Cuadrilla Resources will submit a planning application to Lancashire County Council in northern England to drill, hydraulically fracture and test the flow of natural gas at four exploration wells at its Preston New Road site.

Cuadrilla will also ask for permission to install a network of seismic monitoring stations in a 4km radius of the proposed exploration site.

Cuadrilla will submit the planning application before the end of May. The council is expected to take around 16 weeks to approve the company’s plans.

The company will submit a separate planning application for a second proposed exploration site at Roseacre Wood a few weeks after the Preston New Road application.

Cuadrilla Resources chief executive officer Francis Egan said that the development of the shale gas industry has the potential to bring significant investment, community benefits and opportunities for local people and the North West and UK economies.

"We have undertaken extensive consultation and engagement with the local communities on these applications and have listened carefully to what people have told us. Where it has been reasonably practical to do so we have amended our plans to incorporate feedback and suggestions," Egan added.

Based in Staffordshire, Cuadrilla owns licences for ten sites in the UK. The company estimates that Lancashire’s shale gas market could be worth £136bn.

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Image: Cuadrilla plans to hydraulically fracture at four exploration wells in northern England. Photo: courtesy of Cuadrilla Resources.