Fracking in our area would need hundreds of wells to become viable, claims report

Anti-fracking campaigners say parts of the Mansfield area could become a big gas field if Fracking was ever to be viable in the UK.
Fracking tour: fracking site.Fracking tour: fracking site.
Fracking tour: fracking site.

One well would have to be drilled and fracked every day for 15 years to produce enough gas to replace just half of future UK gas imports, new research from Friends of the Earth reveals today (25 April 2018), with potentially terrible consequences for England’s countryside.

The analysis, carried out by Professor Calvin Jones of Cardiff Business School, finds that to replace just half of estimated UK gas imports will require 6,100 wells. If gas produced per well was at the lower end of possibilities, the report suggests this figure could rise to as many as 16,500 wells.

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The report points out that the Government has previously argued that fracking “would provide valuable additional supplies, reducing our reliance on imports” but today’s research reveals that fracking could only significantly reduce our imports if England’s countryside was littered with fracking wells.

Friends of the Earth campaigner, Rose Dickinson, said:

“One well would have to be drilled and fracked every day for 15 years to replace just half of our gas imports. This would mean an industrialisation of our countryside at a rate that nobody has yet fully appreciated and would put many more communities in the firing line of this dirty and unwanted industry.

“With INEOS wanting to drill in Sherwood Forest and elsewhere we need to know what the scale actually looks like, and it’s not looking good for our countryside.”

Paul Frost of the Frack Free Mansfield Woodhouse campaign group said: “The study seems to confirm our view that the arguments that fracking is commercially viable are bogus.

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“If even 50 per cent of what they are saying was true , to even attempt to make it viable, the industry would devastate our environment. It would cover the area with wells.

“The density of wells would mean everywhere around here in the gas field would be quite close to a well and most of the population would see an increase in traffic and associated problems, the risk of pollution and industrial accidents. It would not be a good thing for the area.

“We are trying to develop a broad range of industries not just the one base don extraction which would devastate our environment.

We have spent millions on a visitor centre at Sherwood Forest and the Dukeries which are long term investments for the tourist industry.

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“They would need hundreds and hundreds of wells and an area covering North and West Nottinghamshire North East Derbyshire and South Yorkshire would be one big gas field with all the attendant problems.

“The people doing this are trying to make a fast buck. It is our health and environment that is at risk

They are trying to force their way onto land. They would not be seismic testing unless they were planning to drill on or underneath the forest area which is vulnerable to damage to the water table, ground water and aquifer pollution vibration and extra traffic if we are looking at lots of these wells. The risk is multiplied by the scale of the industry.

There have been protests at the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest.

Seismic testing has already happened around Warsop Pleasley and Mansfield Woodhouse, Shirebrook and Bolsover areas as well as the Worksop area and into north east Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.