UPDATE 1-Cuadrilla to restart fracking at British site in third quarter

British shale gas company Cuadrilla said on Thursday it would restart fracking at its Preston New Road site in Britain in the third quarter of 2019. The company repeatedly stopped operations last year at the site in Lancashire because of minor seismic events. British regulations demand work be suspended if the seismic activity of magnitude 0.5 or more is detected.

Cuadrilla uses hydraulic fracturing which involves injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break up rock and extract gas. The practise, known as fracking, can cause tremors and environmentalists oppose the development. "We look forward to returning to operations... There is no doubt that the opportunity for the UK is huge," Cuadrilla's chief executive Francis Egan said in the statement.

The firm has asked the industry regulator to review rules on seismic activity to allow more thorough testing of exploration wells. In February, Cuadrilla said results from flow-testing at the site confirmed a reservoir of recoverable high-quality natural gas and that it had fully fractured 2 out of 41 stages along the horizontal well.

Rival Ineos, which has the largest shale gas licence acreage in Britain, has called on the government to change seismicity regulations. Experts have also said the limit for tremors could be safely raised at fracking sites. Cuadrilla, 47.4 percent owned by Australia's AJ Lucas and 45.2 percent owned by a fund managed by Riverstone, said that subject to all regulatory approvals it would complete the programme of fracking and testing equipment by the end of November.

 

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