Simon Talbot Exclusive
May 16, 2014
How do you feel the shale gas sector is developing in the UK currently?
It is moving very slowly in response to the cautious approach the Government has taken, following public concerns regarding its safety.
What do you think could help speed the process up?
I think the industry is responding as appropriately as required.
Firstly, legislation has been moving slowly and regulators have been very cautious in interpreting the regulations, the regulations are arguably the tightest in the world and they are a considerable burden for operators.
So the operators are working within very little room for maneuver.
Take for example the planning system, in some cases a simple planning application for an exploration well which would ordinarily would take 6 months to get permission for, is taking a year, in some cases 2 years.
As far as I am aware there are 7 stages to acquire before any drilling can be done, is this correct?
There are numerous permits in addition to the planning application.
Firstly, you have to have a PEDL license, then you need a PEDL application, then you need a waste water permit, there’s a whole range.
The Office of Unconventional Oil and Gas are looking at providing guidance on how some of these regulations and requests for permits can be streamlined, either done in parallel as opposed to sequentially or indeed bundled into a single permit which can provide a faster response.
How is Ground Gas Solutions helping the shale gas sector?
As we see it there are three elements to a successful shale gas operation in the UK, they are, operators working to best practice and requires to work to best practice which is set out in the onshore operator’s group guidance document. Secondly, is tight regulation, which we’ve got. Thirdly, is independent monitoring to demonstrate that the operator’s environmental management strategies are working effectively, and that’s where Ground Gas Solutions comes in, we provide that independent environmental monitoring.
What is the most important element required to aid the growth and development of shale gas?
The UK has huge natural shale gas resources, the uncertainty is, it going to be commercially exploitable?
The only way that can be determined is by drilling a number of exploration wells. At the moment there’s only one exploration well which has been drilled, fractured and flow tested and you can’t base an industry on just one test result.
Regarding Ground Gas Solutions, how important is risk management and environmental monitoring to the shale gas operations?
Risk management and environmental monitoring is a cornerstone of what our company is about.
We take environmental protection very seriously and believe that very much through appropriate, high quality environmental management that the shale gas industry can be successfully developed. This can be achieved by demonstrating to regulators and the wider public that it is a safe industry without major environmental impact.
How does the robust and authoritative data provide confidence to regulators, communities and interested third parties that no environmental damage will occur?
The authoritative monitoring of soils, ground water, surface water and the atmosphere at and around an operation site, before operations begin as a baseline study, and then during operations, can demonstrate to the regulators and the local communities that nothing has changed, that no significant environmental impacts have occurred.
That will give the operators a social license to operate and reassure the local communities that their anxieties have been addressed.
What makes Ground Gas Solutions unique to other companies in the shale gas industry?
Ground Gas Solutions is the market leader in developing and operating continuous monitoring systems, specifically ground gas monitoring but also ground water monitoring and quality monitoring. Therefore, by undertaking continuous monitoring the full range of natural variation can be picked up.
It is the expertise in that area that Ground Gas Solutions is the market leader.
Why are conferences and debates vital to the shale gas industry?
There are a lot of negative messages put out by anti-shale gas activists, and that misinformation has to be counted. In many instances the fear and mistrust that anti-shale gas activists have put out is grossly misrepresentation of the real risks and the real issues.
It is only by having real debate in the public forum with experts in the subject, that the true messages and the true information about for instance environmental impact, can be disseminated.
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2nd EUROPEAN SHALE GAS AND OIL SUMMIT 2014