A CONTROVERSIAL drilling technique which has been blamed for causing earthquakes could help create 35,000 jobs in Britain and provide enough energy to power much of the country's needs for decades, a new report has claimed.
A study by the Institute of Directors (IoD) in London says developing an industry to exploit shale gas reserves both on and off shore could provide "massive benefits to the UK".
Shale gas is mostly extracted by fracking, a technique in which water is pumped at high pressure into rock to create fractures that allow gas to be captured. It has been linked to earth tremors.
Unexploited deposits of shale gas exist on the Moray Firth and the Firth of Forth, while drilling company Dart energy has been working to extract methane gas from coal beds at Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway, although this is being done without using fracking.
The IoD survey says at a conservative estimate, the potential value of shale gas production in the UK would offset the decline in North Sea oil and gas industries.
The report claims shale gas could provide enough onshore supply to meet 10% of the UK's gas demand for the next 103 years, while also bringing in environmental benefits by removing the need for coal-burning electricity plants.
Dan Lewis, who is the energy policy adviser at the IoD and a co-author of the report, commented: "Shale isn't the answer to all our problems, but it would be a really beneficial part of the energy mix – creating jobs, driving decarbonisation and helping to prevent constant rises in energy prices.
"Fracking has been controversial, but the reality is that with proper regulation it is no more risky than any kind of hydrocarbon extraction – if we overplay the risks, we would miss out on the very real benefits."
Critics say fracking could have dangerous side-effects.
Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said: "We have had some scare stories on what happens when you use fracking to extract gas and it is known to cause earthquakes, so we should be thinking very carefully before going down this route."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "While we recognise the future potential there is for unconventional gas in Scotland, shale gases and coal-bed methane are not included in our energy plans or in our national energy modelling."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article