And abundant gas alone would not do anything to reduce petrol or heating-oil prices. Even if shale-gas could be won, the time to delivery of first gas would be measured in a handful of years at best, not the weeks and months to solve the immediate energy crisis. We also have the wrong kind of geology, small geological basins rather than vast tracts of identical geology and our island is too crowded to get in the thousands of wells to sustain a shale-gas industry. ‘Crispy’ shale, that which is brittle and rich in silica is what is needed for fracking to be successful and most UK shale is especially rich in malleable clays that won’t hold a fracture well. We have, to put it bluntly the wrong kind of shale. The resource is indeed huge but the reserve – that which can be won by drilling and fracking is tiny and indeed to date the proven commercial reserve for the UK is zero. “Can fracking for shale gas alleviate the UK’s energy supply crisis? No! Much has been made of the amount of gas trapped deep underground within the UK’s shale formations and sure enough if you dig up a piece of the appropriate shale and heat it in an oven, methane, the same stuff as we get piped to our house for gas boilers and gas stoves, will be released. Prof Jon Gluyas, Director of the Durham Energy Institute, Durham University, said: There has been recent debate and media discussion about the use of fracking in the UK and its role in the UK’s short and long term energy security. Expert reaction to arguments about fracking for UK energy security
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