You’ll have heard the word fracking used a lot in conjunction with the US and as a
team of Brits over here on Truthloader, we're going to take a look at what’s going on
in the UK.
We’re using a lot of oil and gas and now we’re looking for new sources to fuel our
lifestyles and that’s where fracking comes in.
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing is the controversial method of extracting
gas from shale rock by building wells, digging down and injecting water at high pressure
to release the gas.
Not only is about 7 million litres of water used but several thousand tonnes of sand and
about 200,000 litres of chemicals per well.
There are three stages to fracking – exploration, production and abandonment.
The UK is currently in the first stage with over half of the country up for grabs to explore
in.
And the situation will only progress further... which is why we’re going to look at the
issues.
First up it’s where they are planning on fracking.
The 14th round of offering out licences to companies is happening right now and this
map here shows in yellow where is currently under License, and the pink is what’s under
offer.
Quite a lot right?
More importantly in May this year the government started considering changing the rules on
fracking to allow drilling underneath properties, basically ‘fracking without permission’.
Something that is currently protected under trespass laws.
The government are also giving the go-ahead on fracking that will allow drilling in national
parks and other protected areas in “exceptional circumstances.”
What those circumstances would have to be, is unclear.
Government studies from Public Health England and the Department of Energy and Climate Change
say the risk to health is low if operations are run correctly and are regulated and that
fracking could attract annual investment of 3.7 billion and support up to 74,000 jobs
directly, indirectly and through boarder economic stimulus.
Something David Cameron’s backing up.
"I want us to get on board this change that is doing so much good and bringing so much
benefit to North America.
I want us to benefit from it here as well."
A recent draft report called ‘Shale Gas: Rural Economic Impacts’ was published by
the UK Government, but it was missing out large pieces of texts... which makes you ask
questions about transparency.
Now get ready to ask a lot more questions as we look at the conflict of interests.
There are many major investors involved with oil companies related to fracking.
You’ve got Goldman Sachs, HSBC, BG Group, Kerogen Capital, Riverstone, AJ Lucas Group
and the Carlyle Group.
That last ones the most interesting as we’ve looked into them before and you’re going
to want to too.
If you want to check that out, click on the link in the description below.
The UK media has thrown out articles citing a report that tells of the supposed climate
benefits of fracking by London School of Economics, who were actually funded to do so by multi-millionaire
investment strategist and ex-Shell economist – Jeremy Grantham – who has links to the
fracking industry.
Grantham who put $12 million to start the Grantham Institute is a co-founder of the
global investment management firm Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo (GMO) who according to their
website handle $124 billion for their clients.
Clients which include Chevron and ExxonMobil as well as Marathon Oil, Encana, Devon Energy
and interestingly Nexen who are the largest shareholder of UK fracking company IGas Energy.
Oh and one of GMO’s clients is Dick Cheney – who was instrumental in facilitating fracking
in the US.
Then you’ve got Lord Browne of Madingley, Chairman of Cuadrilla Resources and ex-CEO
of BP who recently told the Guardian that he would invest whatever it takes in fracking
and... is on the advisory board of the Grantham Research Institute.
And then there are the issues with public health and safety.
If the US is anything to go by people are going to be worried one, by the contamination
of water and two, by the release of greenhouse gases since shale gas is made up predominately
of methane.
On a 20-year timescale, global warming potential of methane is 72 times greater than that of
carbon dioxide.
And any wastewaters from the process resurface during the drilling.
But, as compensation to the local communities affected by the fracking, the UK Onshore Operators
Group (UKOOG) has produced a charter that offers 100k per well to share between them.
But when production is over, stage 3 begins - abandonment.
When a well has finished its job, the wastewaters are pumped back into the ground and sealed
with cement and plugs.
These chemicals could well seep through the ground and into the surrounding earth and
more importantly, the water.
Luckily unlike the US the UK must fully disclose the composition of fracturing fluid additives
under the Water Resources Act 1991.
Shale gas is championed by some as a ‘transition fuel’ in the move towards a low carbon economy,
helping to displace higher-emitting fuels, such as coal.
Others argue that shale gas could supplement rather than displace coal use, further locking
countries to a fossil fuel economy.
For now, no long term studies exists which means long term consequences are unforeseeable
but it’s definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
If you want to do further research or research into what I've been speaking about in this
video, I've stuck the sources in the description below and as always, get your comments in
and let us know what you think.
See ya next time.