Cuadrilla '˜encouraged' by signs of gas at Lancashire fracking site

The fracking firm said it had completed drilling a vertical pilot well to a depth of over 2.7 km through both the Upper and Lower Bowland shale rock intervals at its shale gas exploration site at Preston New Road,

The company has recovered some 375 feet of core samples taken across three separate intervals of the shales.

Early analysis suggested excellent rock quality for hydraulic fracturing and a high natural gas content in several zones within the shale.

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: “We are very encouraged by our early analysis of the data and confident that there is a very sizeable quantity of natural gas in the Bowland Shale. In addition we can confirm that the rock compositionis very suitable to hydraulically fracture.

“This give us great confidence as we start drilling what will be the first horizontal well drilled into UK shale rock.”