Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of fracking for (a) oil and (b) natural gas in the UK in response to rising energy prices.

The Government has been clear that shale gas development must be safe and sustainable – both for local communities and the environment. On the basis of the current scientific evidence, the Government has confirmed that it will take a presumption against issuing any further Hydraulic Fracturing Consents, which are required before hydraulic fracturing operations can take place. This position, an effective moratorium, will be maintained unless compelling new evidence is provided which addresses the concerns around the prediction and management of induced seismicity.

Even if the current moratorium were lifted, development would also need to secure environmental permitting and planning consents, and it would take some years of exploration and development before commercial quantities of gas could be produced. Oil and gas is unlikely to become available in sufficient quantities to address the high prices currently affecting all of western Europe.