Shale gas amount is more than expected

IGas said shale gas amount is larger than expected, in regards to the UK

By Nicole Hamer |

11:14 04 June 2013

IGas, an energy company from the UK, has said that there may be more shale gas available than they first expected, it emerged on Monday, 3^rd June. This relates to an area in the north of England where gas is underground.

IGas has stated that there could be as much as 172trillion cube feet of gas in certain areas in the north of England, as reported by the BBC. This is up greatly from what the company originally expected.

The Chief Executive of IGas Andrew Austin said: “The licences have a very significant shale gas resource with the potential to transform the company and materially benefit the communities in which we operate.”

Adding: “Our estimates for our area alone could mean that the UK would not have to import gas for a period of 10 to 15 years.”

The exact amount of gas that can be extracted is not known until the process of extracting the resource begins.

In the USA shale gas has changed the energy situation there. Some people hope this will also be the case for Britain. Although, some experts have said this situation may not occur in the UK. The subject of fracking has caused controversy in Britain, as there have been worries voiced in regards to the environment.

Those who oppose fracking say that earth tremors may arise because of it. Other aspects mentioned relate to whether water may become contaminated. Some call for more of a greener approach when it comes to energy.

Fracking is a process that is used to extract shale gas. Fracking relates to using water and sand as well as chemicals and putting this into rocks at high pressure in order to extract gas.