Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is currently considering plans to end the hydrofracking ban, as a British Geological Survey document examining the safety of drilling will be delivered to him soon. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK has explored numerous ways to increase its energy security, as experts fear Russia’s move to gas flowing into Europe could also have consequences for the UK. To protect itself from major shocks, Britain quickly scaled up green energy projects such as wind, solar and nuclear power, while also giving the green light to North Sea oil and gas projects.
However, Mr Kwarteng has so far been reluctant to end the ban on hydrofracking, which involves releasing the natural gas trapped underground by drilling deep below and sending a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to a rock layer.
Mr Kwarteng said: “We have always been clear that shale gas can be part of our future energy mix.
“But we need to be guided by science and above all we need the constant support of local communities.”
However, Lord Frost urged the government to reconsider its policy of achieving net zero carbon emissions and return to hydrofracking.
He wrote in a Telegraph column warning that neither the UK nor the EU has an energy strategy that can deliver “abundant supplies” of energy.
He noted that there are two ways in which the UK can achieve net zero by 2050, the first of which is to install an energy supply that es affordable, carbon-free and capable of generating large amounts of power.
He wrote: “I do not see how we are going to do that with current technology and the effort to get out there will be extremely costly.”
He added the second route the UK could take was to “suppress energy demand” to match what could be produced by renewable energy, with measures such as house insulation and heat pumps
He noted that although the UK could insist on these measures, such as introducing electric motors by banning the sale of fossil fuel motors, such measures would be extremely unpopular and a “restriction on prosperity”.
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Previously, Zac Goldsmith, the Minister for the Pacific, International Environment, Climate and Forests and British Animal Welfare had rejected any suggestions that fracturing could be the solution.
In a series of tweets, he said: The argument that hydrofracking will reduce our dependence on Russian gas is wrong.
“And to replace half of the gas we import, we’ll probably need about 6,000 new wells, with all the associated industrial equipment and endless movements of trucks transporting toxic chemicals and wastewater to and from sites.
“It is difficult to think that communities across the UK are right about that.
“And since the gas would be produced by private firms and sold at the highest price (internationally), there would be no measurable impact on UK gas prices anyway.”