Work has once again been halted at Cuadrilla’s fracking site in Lancashire after the fourth “micro-seismic event” in the last week.
The event, measuring 1.1 local magnitude, was detected at around 11.30 this morning at the Preston New Road exploration site and is the largest to occur so far.
Work has been paused for 18 hours in line with regulations.
Cuadrilla said the well’s integrity has been checked.
It comes after three other smaller events last week.
The latest one on Friday prompeted another 18 hour stoppage.
A spokesman for Cuadrilla said: “Cuadrilla can confirm that a micro seismic event measuring 1.1ML (local magnitude) was detected at about 11.30am today (Monday, October 29) whilst the team were hydraulically fracturing at our exploration site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire.
“This is the latest micro seismic event to be detected by the organisation’s highly sophisticated monitoring systems and verified by the British Geological Survey (BGS). This will be classed as a ‘red’ event as part of the traffic light system operated by the Oil and Gas Authority but as we have said many times this level is way below anything that can be felt at surface and a very long way from anything that would cause damage or harm.
“In line with regulations, hydraulic fracturing has paused for 18 hours now, during which seismicity will continue to be closely monitored by ourselves and the relevant regulators. Well integrity has been checked and verified.”