Cuadrilla Resources, the company responsible for drilling for shale gas underneath Blackpool, has released the findings of an independent report it commissioned earlier this year.

On April 1, a tremor reaching 2.3 on the richter scale was recorded, followed by another of around 1.4 on May 27th after drilling at the Preese Hall-1 well in Lancashire.

The company has even admitted that the number of minor seismic events caused was actually more like 50, although they are all relatively minor – “There’s a certain level of seismic activity that can occur even with a truck going past a house” said Mark Miller, Cuadrilla’s chief executive.

The company suspended drilling after the second tremor and commissioned the report at the start of June. The report concludes that it is “highly likely” that fracking in Lancashire caused the tremors.

A Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spokesman said: “The implications of this report will be reviewed very carefully before any decision on the resumption of these hydraulic fracture operations is made.”

We reported on Shale Gas in the third edition of our energy newsletter, Utilities Insider.
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Sources:
Telegraph | Guardian | Independent