Alan Robertshaw claims Europa Oil & Gas is lodging an application to undertake “fracking” operations on the outskirts of Scarborough, North Yorkshire (Letters, 23 February). This is misleading. Europa intends to perform a proppant squeeze operation to appraise the potential of the Cloughton gas field to determine if gas can be extracted at commercial rates. If successful, the gas field would be developed, subject to regulatory approval, and would displace imported high-emission liquefied natural gas.
Fracking is defined as high-volume hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas. Proppant squeeze operations are not fracking, and have been successfully deployed for many decades in the UK. The planned proppant squeeze is a regulated activity and will not induce earthquakes, pollute the water table, damage the heritage coast or affect local property prices, and will only increase HGV traffic by 1% during the operation.
Development of the Cloughton gas field will create local jobs, be unnoticeable once in production, diversify the UK gas supply and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the gas that we consume in the UK.
Saying that a proppant squeeze is fracking is equivalent to saying that a domestic cat is a tiger on the basis that they are both cats.
William Holland
CEO, Europa Oil & Gas
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