Up to 8.5 billion barrels of shale oil under southeast England:
government
London (Platts)--23May2014/733 am EDT/1133 GMT
The Jurassic shales of southern England's Weald basin could hold
between 2.2 billion and 8.5 billion barrels of oil resource but no gas,
the UK government said Friday in a new report.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change also launched a consultation
on plans to simplify underground access for shale and deep geothermal
projects.
The new report, compiled by the publicly funded British Geological
Survey, found no shale gas potential in the Weald basin but gave 4.4
billion barrels as a "reasonable central estimate" of shale oil
resources.
It gave no estimate of recoverable reserves, which it said would need
more drilling.
Oil saturation levels in the Weald basin shales are "low when compared
to shale oil producing areas in North America," the report said.
"However as there are shallower conventional oil fields in the Weald
basin this would suggest that there are optimum conditions for oil
generation in some areas within the basin," it added.
The latest report follows a similar study last year of the
Bowland-Hodder shales in northern England, which gave a central estimate
for gas resources of 37.6 trillion cubic metres (1,329 trillion cubic
feet).
The government is promoting UK shale as a way of offsetting declining
offshore production, including through tax incentives, but has faced
protests from environmentalists.
The actual level of potential production remains unclear as operators
continue to test drilling techniques.
Campaign group Greenpeace condemned the government's latest efforts to
provide easier underground access for shale drillers.
"Stripping away people's property rights while trying to kick off a
Klondike-style shale oil rush in the Home Counties is a highly toxic
policy mix," said Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Lawrence Carter.
"Dangling larger bribes in front of communities won't quell their deep
concerns about fracking," he added.
The government proposes to simplify current rules on gaining permission
for shale activity, introducing instead a "clear notification system"
and a "voluntary community payment" of GBP20,000 ($34,000) per lateral
well, DECC said.
Current rules "are costly, time consuming and disproportionate for new
methods of underground drilling," it said.
The UK's nascent onshore shale industry is being mostly led by smaller
companies. BP and Shell have both said they do not plan to get involved.
France's Total however has bought into shale licences held by smaller
operators, as has UK energy company Centrica.
--Nick Coleman, nick.coleman@platts.com
--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy.lovell@platts.com
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