UK Shale Operator Cuadrilla Halts Fracking Near Blackpool After Operations Trigger Tremor

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2019) The Cuadrilla energy company has suspended its controversial fracking operations at Preston New Road near the town of Blackpool on the United Kingdom's Lancashire coast after its activities triggered a quake, the biggest ever recorded at the company's sites, a company spokesperson said.

Earlier in August, the company began fracking its second well, as the first one was abandoned due to frequent quakes prompted by the company's activities. One of the strongest ones, measuring 1.5 local magnitude (ML) on the Richter scale, was recorded at the Little Plumpton site in December 2018.

"We can confirm that a micro seismic event measuring 1.55ML on the Richter scale occurred after we had completed the hydraulic fracturing programme for the day at our Preston New Road site. Most local people will not have felt it due to its small size. The equivalent ground motion would be similar to a large bag of shopping dropping to the floor.

Well integrity has been verified and we will now pause operations and continue monitoring for the next 18 hours," the spokesperson said, as quoted by a statement.

The United Kingdom is reported to have vast shale gas resources, but extraction by fracking is widely objected to over risks of polluting groundwater with chemicals.

In 2016, the UK government allowed Cuadrilla Resources to begin fracking operations at Preston New Road site, but protests by environmental activists repeatedly forced the company to suspend the project.

The UK government claims that shale gas extraction could benefit the UK economy and contribute to London's net-zero emissions goals, and that the United Kingdom had "world-leading regulations" guaranteeing safety and environmental responsibility of shale gas exploitation.