INEOS Shale’s quest to unearth shale gas in the UK continues.
It has now submitted two planning applications to drill vertical core wells near Sheffield so it can analyse samples of the rock.
Operations Director Tom Pickering remains confident that the first well could be drilled by early next year and believes the public’s appetite for shale gas exploration is growing.
“Landowners are naturally worried about protesters but it is a different backdrop today,” he said. “There has been a huge shift from three and a half years ago when we first set out on this road. The mood has changed. Brexit has really concentrated the mind. People now see that we do need to be thinking about the UK’s energy security.”
The cost of drilling each well could be up to £12 million.
INEOS Shale now owns the rights to explore 1.2 million acres of land in the UK for shale gas.
In January this year INEOS increased its acreage when it bought Moorland Energy and with it Government licences to explore an area stretching from Helmsley to East Ayton in East Yorkshire.