Development of onshore gas is not an alien concept to the UK energy industry, believes the boss of an oil and gas body.
Speaking at the Uncoventional Gas 2014 conference, Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK said that the onshore and offshore sectors are closely linked by sharing a number of policies and supply chain similarities.
“I think it’s the same industry, really. It’s the oil and gas industry,” Webb said.
“What I think we got confused with is the new techniques – which are not that new, we have been fracking since the 1980s.
“It’s not “unconventional” gas – it’s natural gas.”
But Webb agreed that UK onshore exploration is “still in its infancy” and the industry needs to take note of lessons learnt by the offshore sector.
“We don’t really know how much we are going to produce from this reservoir. It’s hugely important that we do the exploration and we build the knowledge base around that, so that we can maximise our options.”
The third annual Unconventional Gas conference is a two day conference featuring presentations by operators, regulators and academia, to debate the development opportunities of shale gas exploration in the UK.
Watch our interview with Malcolm Webb from the first day of the event below:
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