Shale gas–boom or bust?
The news that Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has committed £160 million to shale gas exploration in Lancashire led to debates about a possible shale gas boom in the UK to match that in the US.
In America the boom in shale gas production has led to a sharp fall in gas prices and a massive drop in oil imports, with the US predicted to become self-sufficient in energy within a few years, only a decade after being the world’s biggest oil importer.
Early estimates are that UK resources could equal 100 years of current consumption, but experts warn that extracting gas in the UK will be much harder in the heavily-populated UK than in America’s wide empty spaces.
The UK’s reliance on expensive imported gas has resulted in soaring domestic energy bills, so we can expect to hear a lot more about the shale gas opportunity.