'Rich Reservoir' of Shale Gas Discovered in the U.K.

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Shale gas company Cuadrilla Resources (Lichfield, England) has reported that flow-testing of the U.K.'s first-ever horizontal shale oil and gas exploration well confirms that there is a "rich reservoir" of recoverable, high-quality natural gas present.

The well, drilled through the shale rock more than 7,500 feet beneath the Preston New Road exploration site in Lancashire, revealed "excellent results" but Cuadrilla complained that there needs to be an urgent review of the strict regulations related to earthquake limits. The company performed "an intentionally conservative micro-seismic operating limit during hydraulic fracturing, set at just 0.5 on the Richter Scale." In contrast, the U.S. safety limit is 4.0. Hydraulic fracturing--"fracking"--involves injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break up rock and extract gas. The practice can cause tremors, and there is strong and widespread objection from environmental and other groups against fracking.

Francis Egan, Cuadrilla's chief executive officer, said: "We have only partially tested this well, with just two out of the 41 stages installed along the horizontal section fractured fully as designed, and less than 14% of the sand we had planned to inject into the shale rock put in place. Nonetheless the natural gas still flowed back from the shale at a peak rate of over 200,000 standard cubic feet per day and a stable rate of some 100,000 standard cubic feet per day.

Cuadrilla estimates that, when compared to a typical North American 2.5-kilometre (km)-long producing horizontal shale gas well, with all of its stages fractured as planned, the data indicates a potential initial flow rate range of between 3 million and 8 million standard cubic feet per day.

"This is a highly encouraging result and great news for the U.K., which continues to import gas in ever increasing quantities by ship and long-distance pipeline and has seen record demand for gas during the recent cold weather," Egan added. "The natural gas beneath Preston New Road could help secure our domestic gas supply and flow directly into the local grid, reducing CO2 emissions associated with importing LNG in tankers from around the world, including shale gas from the U.S., or piping gas to the U.K. over thousands of miles."

The Preston New Road operation, the U.K's first permitted shale operation, is highly controversial. Industrial Info is tracking the shale gas project. In April, Cuadrilla announced that the first well had been drilled through the Lower Bowland Shale at a depth of approximately 2,700 metres below ground, extending laterally for some 800 metres through the shale gas reservoir. For additional information, see April 11, 2018, article - Drilling Complete At U.K.'s First Shale Gas Well.

Cuadrilla wants the strict quake limits changed to speed up the exploration process, claiming that they are "exceedingly conservative." The company said that the ground vibration levels recorded throughout fracturing operations were mostly less than 0.5 mm/second, "up to 30 times lower than limits applied to other U.K. industrial operations, including quarrying and construction."

Egan added: "All we ask now is that we are treated fairly, with comparable seismic and ground vibration levels to similar industries in Lancashire and elsewhere in the U.K., who are able to work safely but more effectively with significantly higher thresholds for seismicity and ground vibration."

Industrial Info reported in October that the government had green lit Cuadrilla's plans to begin fracking at a second well at Preston New Road. For additional information, see October 1, 2018, article - U.K. Green Lights Second Shale Gas Well.

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