Ban "small-scale fracking" for onshore oil and gas

Fracking forces fluid into rocks to open cracks so oil or gas can flow out. It was banned in 2019 after being blamed for causing earthquakes in shale gas drilling. But the ban only covers fracking with large volumes of fluid.

We want the ban to be extended to cover activities with smaller volumes of liquid.

Extracting oil and gas will intensify the impact of climate change. There are companies who have submitted planning applications to use what we see as "small-scale fracking" to extract oil and gas. Little is known of the potential risks of this activity. We ask the government to close what we feel is a loophole to help protect communities from harm. We believe not doing so could slow the essential transition towards clean, renewable energy.

This Government is committed to ending new onshore oil and gas licensing in England. This will help make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect current and future generations.

On 1 October the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero announced legislation to end new onshore oil and gas licensing in England, including new licences that could be used for high volume hydraulic fracturing for shale gas (commonly known as “fracking”).

There is an effective moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracturing for shale gas (“associated hydraulic fracturing” as defined by the Petroleum Act 1998) in England, and this will continue to apply to existing licences. This is in place because of concerns around prediction and management of induced seismicity from this type of hydraulic fracturing. There are similar restrictions in place across other parts of the UK.

Low volume hydraulic fracturing includes activities such as “proppant squeezes”, which take place at lower volumes than the thresholds for “associated hydraulic fracturing” and in a variety of geological contexts. The small number of these activities are not currently in scope of the effective moratorium in England, which only targeted high volume hydraulic fracturing for shale gas extraction.

However, the government recognises concerns from local communities regarding low volume fracturing and the fact that it is currently treated differently, and is therefore currently reviewing the position with regard to low volume hydraulic fracturing.