Britain has formally lifted a moratorium on fracking for shale gas that has been in place since 2019, saying strengthening its energy supply was an"absolute priority".
Business and Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said today all sources of energy needed to be explored to increase domestic production,"so it's right that we've lifted the pause to realise any potential sources of domestic gas". But the rules around earth tremors meant its operations had to keep halting, meaning that neither of its two wells could be fully flow-tested.
Experts say fracking will do nothing to ease energy prices this winter since it would take many years for an industry to develop and it remains unclear whether a significant amount of gas could ever be extracted in this way in Britain.