Following the £21 million investment in shale gas exploration unveiled by French oil firm Total, Fallon said: “You’re not going to see wells in every village or every field. You’re going to see 20 to 40 exploration wells and then we’ll see exactly where the companies are most likely to get it out.”
Oil and gas industry trade body, United Kingdom Onshore Operators Group, pointed out that 40 sites would mean up to 800 wells with each site the size of three football pitches.
But construction firm Amec, author of an environmental assessment of the government’s draft licensing plan for shale gas exploration, considered a high activity scenario of 120 sites each with up to 24 wells.
Amec’s estimate gives a total of 2,880 boreholes with each site covering three hectares – more than four football pitches. It calculated also that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at each well could consume up to 100 million litres of water with three quarters of it returning to the surface. Up to 50 trucks a day would be needed to transport the waste water according to Amec. Amec estimated that some 150 exploration licences could be issued.
IGas, one of four companies partnering with Total, said it will apply for permits for “extensive surveys” to identify potential new fracking sites in north-west England where it already holds licences and in the East Midlands and south England.