Cuadrilla given extra year to evaluate fracking wells

Fracking firm Cuadrilla will not have to seal up the UK's only two shale gas wells at the end of June, as previously instructed by regulators.

Regulators have lifted an order for the controversial wells near Blackpool to be capped with concrete.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under pressure from Conservative MPs to end a 2019 moratorium on fracking.

The move comes ahead of the publication of the government's delayed energy strategy.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said the firm now had until the end of June 2023 to evaluate options for the Preston New Road and Elswick sites.

Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: "I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the Business Secretary [Kwasi Kwarteng] for seeing the light and realising - just in time - how absurd it would have been to force us to pour concrete down Britain's only two viable shale gas wells in the middle of an energy crisis.

He added that the suspension "will have a cul-de-sac ending unless we now reverse the moratorium preventing us from using the wells".

Conservative MPs from the Net Zero Scrutiny Group have been pushing for the fracking moratorium to be lifted.

Craig Mackinlay, who leads the group, tweeted in response to the suspension: "At a time of energy insecurity, high prices [and the] Ukraine Russia war all possible avenues for domestic energy should be maintained."

But environmental group Greenpeace said fracking would not improve energy security, because any gas extracted would belong to Cuadrilla, not to Britain, and it would be sold on international markets.

"Trying to restart fracking now would only mean wasting more time when we have little," a Greenpeace UK spokesperson said.

"It will take many years to develop and if it ever gets produced, it will be sold to the highest bidder on the international market, with no impact on our energy bills.

"If the UK and Europe want to end their dependence on Russian gas, the quickest way to do that is by insulating homes, installing heat pumps and boosting renewables."

Campaign group Friends of the Earth said: "Fracking would do little to nothing for energy prices or energy security.

"Renewable energy, alongside a massive programme to insulate the country's inefficient homes, is the quickest and cleanest way to bring down soaring energy costs."

The energy security strategy promised by Mr Johnson has been delayed after reports the Treasury had resisted some of the costs involved, but is expected to be published in early April.

The NSTA said Cuadrilla applied for consent to keep its wells on 28 March, and it approved that just three days later.

"The North Sea Transition Authority has looked carefully at this application, alongside recent developments, and agreed to withdraw the requirement to decommission the wells by the end of June," the regulator said.

"Cuadrilla now have until the end of June next year to evaluate options for the Preston New Road and Elswick sites.

"If no credible re-use plans are in place by then, the North Sea Transition Authority expects to reimpose decommissioning requirements."