Business and Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said strengthening the UK’s energy security was an “absolute priority” in light of Putin’s “illegal invasion of Ukraine and the weaponisation of energy”. In a bid to make the UK a net energy exporter by 2040, the country needs to explore “all available avenues through solar, wind, oil and gas generation – so it’s only right that we’ve lifted the pause to realize any possible sources domestic gas,” he said. The government claims natural gas could start flowing within six months, but experts say it could take a decade, doing little to boost energy security, meet climate targets or reduce bills. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said in February as then business secretary that additional UK gas production would not affect gas prices, which are set internationally. “UK producers will not sell shale gas to UK consumers below market price. They are not charities,” he said at the time. The government has also confirmed plans for a new round of oil and gas licensing to start in October, paving the way for more than 100 new licenses for exploration, which could include fracking. Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change secretary, called fracking a “dangerous fantasy”. “It would do nothing to reduce energy bills, it costs far more than renewables, it’s unsafe and it’s deeply unpopular with the public,” he said. He accused the Conservatives of breaking a 2019 manifesto pledge to not support fracking “unless the science shows unequivocally that it can be done safely”. In April, the government commissioned the British Geological Survey (BGS) to assess whether there had been any progress in techniques to “reduce the risk and magnitude of seismic events” from the shale gas extraction method, which involves drilling into the ground and injecting high -Pressure mixture on the rock to release the gas inside. The peer-reviewed report, which has been with the business and energy department since July but was published today, admitted that projecting the occurrence and magnitude of large earthquakes “remains a scientific challenge for the geoscience community”. That means the BGS’s ability to predict and mitigate risks from seismic formation caused by fracking “is also a challenge,” it said in a statement. He acknowledged that some new analysis techniques were available, but said further work was needed before they could be used to assess risk.
