Fracking: Shale rock professor says UK gas reserves 'hyped'

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40955249

Fracking: Shale rock professor says UK gas reserves 'hyped'

By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

17 August 2017

From the section Business

The gas reserves in shale rocks in the UK have been "hyped", a geology professor has warned. Prof John Underhill from Heriot-Watt University said UK shale deposits were formed 55 million years too late to trap substantial amounts of gas. He said the government would be wise to formulate a Plan B to fracking for future gas supplies.
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Cuadrilla said estimates from the British Geological Survey (BGS) indicated a large potential gas reserve.

But Prof Underhill said his research on the influence of tectonic plates on the UK suggested that the shale formations have been lifted, warped and cooled by tectonic action. These factors make shale gas production much less likely. "The complexity of the shale gas basins hasn't been fully appreciated so the opportunity has been hyped," he told the BBC. This is very different from the US, where big deposits of shale gas were created in the continental heart of America, far from the movement of tectonic plates.

Prof Underhill's comments are based on an unpublished paper on tectonics. He said he deduced the impact on shale formations by chance.
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