Cuadrilla drills first UK shale well at Preston New Road, eyes fracking consent

Cuadrilla has completed drilling the UK’s first ever horizontal shale gas well at its exploration site at Preston New Road in Lancashire ahead of planned 'fracking' at the site.

Cuadrilla drilled through to a depth of almost 8,860 feet below ground and then laterally for just over 2,620 feet through the shale gas reservoir.

The company said it plans to apply for consent for hydraulic fracturing at the well “in the very near future” from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Work will now begin on drilling the second horizontal shale gas exploration well, said chief executive Francis Egan.

“Our completion of the UK’s first ever horizontal shale gas well is a major milestone towards getting Lancashire gas flowing into Lancashire homes as we lead the way on UK exploration,” Egan said.

“From the data we have amassed so far we are optimistic that, after fracturing the shale rock, natural gas will flow into this horizontal well in commercially viable quantities demonstrating that the UK’s huge shale gas resources can be safely produced and contribute to improving the UK’s energy security."

In response, Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK, said: “Just as Bloomberg reveal that solar plants have dropped in cost by 20% in the last twelve months, Cuadrilla announces that seven years after the last UK well was fracked, they are almost ready to have another go, notwithstanding local opposition, pending government permission, sometime in the summer, maybe. And this announcement of yet another delay in getting started is what Cuadrilla are trying to pass off as a success.”