Oil and gas exploration and production company Egdon Resources has discovered a reserve believed to hold 16 Tcf (480 Bcm) of gas.
According to national media reports, the company’s Gainsborough Trough sedimentary basin could provide a £100-billion boost to the UK economy.
Chief executive Mark Abbott claimed that said the results “compare favourably with some of the best producing shale basins in the US”.
The trough consists of shales and sandstones and extends across parts of Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire with the gas buried around 2km beneath the surface.
It added that the basin could hold around six to seven years of the UK’s gas consumption.
Egdon previously drilled Gainsborough Trough basin in 2019 when it discovered the resources. After gathering data since then, it commissioned Deloitte to analyse the results of exploratory drilling in the basin.
“Deloitte’s modelling estimates that if this was developed it would generate a GDP contribution of £140bn, £34bn of direct taxes, up to 250,000 direct and indirect jobs and offset 202m tonnes of CO2 equivalent when compared to the emissions associated with imported gas,” Abbot added.
The company is set to make an official announcement about the discovery at a conference at the end of the month.
While the company has yet to confirm whether it will need to use hydraulic fracturing techniques to extract the gas.
2019 wasn’t just the year that Egdon discovered the resources – it was the year that the UK government under the Conservatives called to stop fracking in the country. Aside from a brief month-long halt in 2022, the ban has held.
Among Labour’s pre-election policies was a pledge to permanently ban fracking.
However, with the government under pressure to deliver on its promises to boost economic growth, and energy security rising as a priority after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the discovery could reignite the debate about fracking in the UK.
The news has been met positively by some politicians, with the BBC quoting Conservative MP for Gainsborough Edward Leigh as saying: I’m going to welcome all research and if it is going to power the nation for a decade and create thousands of jobs locally and safely, then I’m all in favour for it.”
Egdon Resources is also part of the Wressle oil field extension project, which has suffered legal challenges to its development.
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