Fracking for shale gas under the North Sea could be the key to meeting the country’s future energy needs, according to a powerful group of MPs.
The UK Government has been told to help kick-start offshore exploration for the gas – by offering tax breaks to firms and using the skills base in the north-east.
But the coalition was also warned that it must take action before North Sea fields and platforms are decommissioned.
The call was made in a new report by the energy and climate change committee at Westminster, published today. Britain would become the first country in the world to explore offshore for shale gas.
North-east MPs hailed the huge potential for the sector last night – but environmental groups expressed alarm.
Meanwhile, the committee also expressed “frustration” at delays in awarding £1billion of government funding to develop carbon capture and storage technology – potentially at Peterhead. Members called for the process to “accelerate rapidly” in the next three years.
Shale gas, which is natural gas trapped in rock, has become a key resource in the US, where the industry is booming and energy prices have plummeted, leaving other countries investigating their own deposits.
Hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – is often used to recover oil and gas that is too tightly bound into rock to be recovered by normal drilling, and involves cracking open rocks using a mixture of water, sand and chemicals.
Opponents of fracking fear the process could induce earthquakes.
The new report by the energy committee has now urged the government to encourage exploration offshore.
“While it is unlikely that offshore shale gas will be pursued in the near future, strategically it may have the most potential for the UK in the medium-to-long-term, especially if it avoids public opposition associated with onshore operations,” the MPs said.
They said ministers should “encourage the development of the offshore shale gas industry in the UK, working with the Treasury to explore the impacts of tax breaks”.
And they added: “This must be done before the UK’s North Sea oil and gas platforms are decommissioned, otherwise the opportunity to utilise the UK’s offshore oil and gas assets may pass.”
Committee member Sir Robert Smith, Liberal Democrat MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said: “If the technology can be adapted to make it cost-effective to drill for shale gas offshore, there’s a lot of potential.”
Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “There are concerns in the way of pollution.”
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