Vast Gas Find May Bring Boom Time To Blackpool

Up to 800 wells could be drilled around Blackpool after a company exploring for controversial shale gas found vast underground deposits.

Cuadrilla Resources says its surveys have has discovered 200trn cubic feet of gas in Lancashire - equivalent to 56 years' worth of imports.

Not all of this will be recovered, the company concedes, but chief executive Mark Miller said his company was "pleasantly surprised" by the findings.

The mammoth task of extracting the gas could create up to 5,600 jobs, including 1,700 in the region, he said.

Cuadrilla also estimates that local authorities could benefit from £120m in business rates.

Shale gas is contained within a layer of rock formed from deposits of mud, silt, clay and organic matter.

It is extracted by drilling down into the ground and then using a process called "fracking", in which high-pressure liquid is used to split the rock and release the gas.

The process has attracted strong criticism from environmental groups, who argue that there is a risk the chemicals used in fracking will find their way into groundwater.

Local residents are also waiting to hear whether minor earthquake tremors that hit Blackpool in June are related to Cuadrilla's activities.

"Drilling for shale gas raises serious safety concerns and risks polluting water supplies - and it could take vital funding away from the clean energy solutions we know are safe and will work," said Friends of the Earth's senior climate campaigner Tony Bosworth.

"Our future power needs should come from the wind, sun and waves and using our energy more carefully - this will slash emissions and boost the economy by creating new businesses and jobs."

The Cooperative meanwhile warned the Government not to be "seduced" by the newly-discovered Lancashire gas field.

It reiterated its call for a moratorium on shale gas extraction until the environmental impacts were fully understood.

Cuadrilla will now finish its exploratory phase then begin getting approval to build drilling wells - as many as 400 over the next nine years and up to 800 over 16 years if gas extraction is successful.