Fracking firm Cuadrilla has revealed that a second “micro” seismic event took place at it’s shale gas exploration site in Lancashire.
The firm confirmed that the relevant regulators had been informed.
The event is the second such small seismic event in as many days.
It was detected just after 4pm yesterday at the company’s site at Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire.
Cuadrilla described the shudder as a “micro seismic event of 0.3ML (local magnitude)”.
The firm said that fracturing operations would continue “as planned” today.
A spokesman for Cuadrilla said: “A micro seismic event of 0.3ML (local magnitude) was detected just after 4pm this afternoon at Cuadrilla’s shale gas exploration site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire, which will be classed as an amber event in line with the traffic light monitoring system regulated by the Oil and Gas Authority. It is anticipated that hydraulic fracturing operations will continue as planned tomorrow.
“People should remember and be reassured that anything registering between 0 and 2.0 on the Richter Scale is generally categorised as a micro seismic event, far below anything that could be felt at surface or cause damage or harm. On average around 8,000 micro seismic events are detected in the world every day and very rarely reported in the news. These are truly tiny movements and without the sophisticated monitoring in place at PNR, they would in all likelihood not be detected.
“We’re comfortable that the traffic light system is working as it should. Everything so far has been within our operational expectations, in line with the work we’re carrying out and reported appropriately as part of the Oil and Gas Authority’s traffic light system. All the relevant regulators have been informed.”