The party is serious about going after shale gas. Critics complain about anything they can think of but the evidence of its success in the US is out there. Voters may find appeal in UK-sourced gas rather than expensive LNG and other imports. It would be likely to benefit many more UK workers than so-called green jobs, and be able to supply new and existing gas-fired power stations, needed to support the creaking electricity grid. Reform says ‘net zero’ targets and policies are a waste of time and money in a cash-strapped UK economy with sky-high energy prices.
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Trapped in underground rocks, a potential energy resource has eluded generations of British politicians, says BBC News.
It’s called shale gas and the method of getting it out of the ground, known as fracking, has proved politically difficult.
Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has been banned many times by different prime ministers since 2011 over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts.
And yet despite this, Reform UK – which is leading in national opinion polls – believe it’s worth going after the gas again.
“We’ve got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas,” Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader and energy spokesperson, says.
“It’s grossly financially negligent to a criminal degree to leave that value underground and not to extract it.”
The party led by Nigel Farage is telling energy firms to get ready to “drill, baby, drill” if it gets into government after the next general election.
Reform UK says it’s serious about shale – but will its plans succeed where so many others have failed?
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So, how would Reform UK navigate this political minefield?
Firstly, Tice says, Reform UK would lift any fracking ban immediately.
Secondly, he says, a Reform UK government would work with oil and gas companies using new extraction techniques to explore for shale gas at a couple of independently monitored fracking wells.
“That will confirm the quantity of gas available and satisfy people that it’s safe,” Tice says.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has identified four areas where there’s potential for commercial shale gas extraction, with the largest spanning Lancashire and several counties in the Midlands.
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Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns, the Lincolnshire mayor, is also a fracking enthusiast and recently met Egdon Resources, an oil and gas firm that has licences for targeting shale gas in an area known as the Gainsborough Trough.
The company has been touting analysis by accounting firm Deloitte, which estimates that gas in the trough could be worth £140bn to the UK economy and create 250,000 jobs.
The Deloitte assessment is not public and Egdon Resources would not share a copy with the BBC.
Mark Abbott, the CEO of Egdon Resources, says the company would look to invest millions in shale gas “if the regulatory environment allowed that”.
He says that “clearly Reform has a policy which is more supportive than we’ve seen for a while”.
Star Energy Group is another company that has interests in areas with potential shale deposits.
Its CEO Ross Glover has met Reform UK councillors in Lincolnshire, where the party controls the county council.
“We know there’s a world class resource there,” Glover says. “I believe the UK needs whatever indigenous energy it can get, be it wind, solar, geothermal.”
Full article here.
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Image: Fracking – note the deep shaft
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
August 25, 2025 at 03:31AM
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