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'''Cuadrilla Resources''' is an [[oil and gas exploration]] and production company founded in 2007 with headquarters and operations in the United Kingdom. It is best known for its ongoing effort to develop [[shale gas]] in the UK by using [[hydraulic fracturing]]. Its chairman is [[John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley|Lord Browne]], former chief of [[BP]] and the chief executive is Francis Egan.
'''Cuadrilla Resources''' is an [[oil and gas exploration]] and production company founded in 2007 with headquarters and operations in the United Kingdom. The company were set up in order to attempt to develop [[shale gas]] in the UK by using [[hydraulic fracturing]]. Its chairman is [[John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley|Lord Browne]], former chief of [[BP]] and the chief executive is Francis Egan.

Cuadrilla caused two earthquakes in April 2011 when they fracked the Preese Hall site on the Fylde in Lancashire. Their attempts to frack at Balcombe were met with strong resistance, which forced the company to back down. Efforts to pursue fracking on the Fylde were pursued and have also been met by fierce local opposition. After their application to prospect for shale gas at the Preston New Road site was initially turned down by Lancashire County Council, Cuadrilla appealed and in October 2016, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid overturned the local decision giving the company approval to frack. Construction of the site began in January 2017 and has been met by daily roadside resistance and a series of direct actions which have blockaded the site. The company have ploughed with construction regardless, yet have no social licence to frack.


==Corporate structure==
==Corporate structure==
Line 56: Line 58:
:In April 2014, Cuadrilla published news of their continuing consultation with residents shale gas exploration sites in the Fylde.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/news/cuadrilla-news/article/cuadrilla-update-on-bowland-exploration-programme-3/ | title=Cuadrilla update on Bowland exploration programme | work=News | date=23 April 2014 | accessdate=26 April 2014}}</ref> existing gas well at Elswick, near one of its sites in Lancashire, was fracked 20 years ago by its then owners, British Gas
:In April 2014, Cuadrilla published news of their continuing consultation with residents shale gas exploration sites in the Fylde.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/news/cuadrilla-news/article/cuadrilla-update-on-bowland-exploration-programme-3/ | title=Cuadrilla update on Bowland exploration programme | work=News | date=23 April 2014 | accessdate=26 April 2014}}</ref> existing gas well at Elswick, near one of its sites in Lancashire, was fracked 20 years ago by its then owners, British Gas


*[[Weeton with Preese|Weeton]], Lancashire: The company drilled a well and two small earthquakes were caused by its hydraulic fracturing in April 2011. One of the earthquakes was large enough to be felt by some people at the surface.<ref name="Guard">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/13/fracking-cuadrilla-halts-operations-lancashire | title=Fracking Company Cuadrilla Halts Operations At Lancashire Drilling Site | work=The Guardian | date=13 March 2013 | accessdate=19 March 2013 | last=Harvey | first=Fiona | author2=Damian Carrington | author3=Terry Macalister}}</ref> The earthquakes led to a government-ordered moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, which has since been lifted.{{citation needed||date=May 2016}} As of 2013, this is the only well hydraulically fractured by Cuadrilla.{{citation needed||date=May 2016}}
*[[Weeton with Preese|Weeton]], Lancashire: The company drilled a well and two small earthquakes were caused by its hydraulic fracturing in April 2011. One of the earthquakes was large enough to be felt by some people at the surface and caused some property damage.<ref name="Guard">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/13/fracking-cuadrilla-halts-operations-lancashire | title=Fracking Company Cuadrilla Halts Operations At Lancashire Drilling Site | work=The Guardian | date=13 March 2013 | accessdate=19 March 2013 | last=Harvey | first=Fiona | author2=Damian Carrington | author3=Terry Macalister}}</ref> The earthquakes led to a government-ordered moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, which has since been lifted.{{citation needed||date=May 2016}} As of 2013, this is the only well hydraulically fractured by Cuadrilla.{{citation needed||date=May 2016}}
*[[Elswick, Lancashire|Elswick]]: The gas well had been drilled and hydraulically fractured by [[British Gas]] in 1993.<ref name="Gilligan2011"/> The gas extracted from sandstone has been used to generate electricity for the national grid.<ref>Cuadrilla website, [http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/our-sites/elswick/ Elswick], accessed 22 August 2013.</ref> Bought by Cuadrilla in 2010. Cuadrilla has frequently used this as a showpiece site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://frack-off.org.uk/why-does-cuadrilla-own-an-old-gas-well-near-elswick-in-lancashire/|title=Why does Cuadrilla own an old gas well near Elswick in Lancashire?|publisher=|accessdate=15 May 2015}}</ref> Cuadrilla's promotional use of Elswick brought it into conflict with the [[Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)]].<ref>[http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/4/Cuadrilla-Resources-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_203806.aspx ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, 24 April 2013, accessed 7 June 2013]</ref>
*[[Elswick, Lancashire|Elswick]]: The gas well had been drilled and hydraulically fractured by [[British Gas]] in 1993.<ref name="Gilligan2011"/> The gas extracted from sandstone has been used to generate electricity for the national grid.<ref>Cuadrilla website, [http://www.cuadrillaresources.com/our-sites/elswick/ Elswick], accessed 22 August 2013.</ref> Bought by Cuadrilla in 2010. Cuadrilla has frequently used this as a showpiece site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://frack-off.org.uk/why-does-cuadrilla-own-an-old-gas-well-near-elswick-in-lancashire/|title=Why does Cuadrilla own an old gas well near Elswick in Lancashire?|publisher=|accessdate=15 May 2015}}</ref> Cuadrilla's promotional use of Elswick brought it into conflict with the [[Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)]].<ref>[http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/4/Cuadrilla-Resources-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_203806.aspx ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, 24 April 2013, accessed 7 June 2013]</ref>


Revision as of 11:52, 15 June 2017

Cuadrilla Resources
Industryoil and gas exploration
FounderDr Chris Cornelius
Headquarters
Lichfield
,
England, United Kingdom
Key people
Lord Browne, Chairman, Francis Egan, CEO
Productsshale gas, oil
OwnerA.J. Lucas (45%) , Riverstone Holdings (45%), Cuadrilla Management (10%)
Websitewww.cuadrillaresources.com

Cuadrilla Resources is an oil and gas exploration and production company founded in 2007 with headquarters and operations in the United Kingdom. The company were set up in order to attempt to develop shale gas in the UK by using hydraulic fracturing. Its chairman is Lord Browne, former chief of BP and the chief executive is Francis Egan.

Cuadrilla caused two earthquakes in April 2011 when they fracked the Preese Hall site on the Fylde in Lancashire. Their attempts to frack at Balcombe were met with strong resistance, which forced the company to back down. Efforts to pursue fracking on the Fylde were pursued and have also been met by fierce local opposition. After their application to prospect for shale gas at the Preston New Road site was initially turned down by Lancashire County Council, Cuadrilla appealed and in October 2016, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid overturned the local decision giving the company approval to frack. Construction of the site began in January 2017 and has been met by daily roadside resistance and a series of direct actions which have blockaded the site. The company have ploughed with construction regardless, yet have no social licence to frack.

Corporate structure

Cuadrilla is a privately owned company with headquarters in the United Kingdom.[1] The company was founded in 2007, financed with investment from the Australian engineering company A.J. Lucas and the Anglo-American equity firm Riverstone Holdings.[2] As of March 2016 it is owned 45% by AJ Lucas, and equally by Riverstone LLC, while Cuadrilla management owns the remaining 10%.[3]: 5  In 2009, Riverstone had settled corruption charges in New York through its partner The Carlyle Group.[4]

Its chairman is Lord Browne, former chief of BP and President of The Royal Academy of Engineering from 2006−2011. [citation needed]The chief executive is Francis Egan.[citation needed] Cuadrilla is Spanish for group or party, and is pronounced in English roughly as /kwəˈdriːjə/.[citation needed]

Operations

As of 2013, the company held licences for ten sites in the UK and had drilled three wells, all in Lancashire,[5] one of which has been hydraulically fractured since 1993 by a previous owner; The company produces gas from that well, completed in sandstone.[citation needed]

Lancashire

  • Grange Hill, Singleton: Cuadrilla drilled in 2011,[6] and in September 2011 announced the discovery of 200 trillion cubic feet of gas in place under the Fylde Coast in Lancashire.[7] Cuadrilla hoped to recover 10–20% of the gas.[8] and that it could provide 5,600 jobs in the UK at the peak of production.[9] At the same time Lord Browne claimed that the Lancashire discovery could satisfy the UK's gas consumption "for 56 years",[9]
In 2012 media reported that the find was "so rich it could meet Britain's needs for decades",[10] that shale gas in Lancashire alone could deliver £6bn of gas a year for the next three decades,[11] and that it had "the potential to do more for Lancashire than the cotton industry."[12] The British Geological Survey, responsible for producing UK's mineral resource inventories, and far more cautious in its estimates, re-evaluated its projections in light of the find.[10]
As of February 2013 Cuadrilla estimated that Lancashire's shale gas could have a market value of £136 billion.[13] and in July 2013, Cuadrilla applied for a permit to hydraulic fracturing of the well it drilled at Grange Hill.[14]
In April 2014, Cuadrilla published news of their continuing consultation with residents shale gas exploration sites in the Fylde.[15] existing gas well at Elswick, near one of its sites in Lancashire, was fracked 20 years ago by its then owners, British Gas
  • Weeton, Lancashire: The company drilled a well and two small earthquakes were caused by its hydraulic fracturing in April 2011. One of the earthquakes was large enough to be felt by some people at the surface and caused some property damage.[5] The earthquakes led to a government-ordered moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, which has since been lifted.[citation needed] As of 2013, this is the only well hydraulically fractured by Cuadrilla.[citation needed]
  • Elswick: The gas well had been drilled and hydraulically fractured by British Gas in 1993.[8] The gas extracted from sandstone has been used to generate electricity for the national grid.[16] Bought by Cuadrilla in 2010. Cuadrilla has frequently used this as a showpiece site.[17] Cuadrilla's promotional use of Elswick brought it into conflict with the Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom).[18]

Other sites:

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom

A proposed test well, half a mile from Balcombe in West Sussex, scheduled for summer 2013, was the scene of protests.[20] Caudrilla had explained that the drilling would last no more than four months and would not involve fracking, however they were to use acid washing to open natural fractures. Their planning permission was to expire on 28 September 2013.[21] They were to take samples of rock at around 900m (3,000 feet).[22] Cuadrilla suspended its drilling plans in August 2013 after consulting with the Sussex police, citing "threats of direct action against the exploration site". The company said that the halt was done in the interests of safety of the drilling crew, the protesters, and the public.[23]

Other sites:

Poland

Since 2012, Cuadrilla has held a hydrocarbon exploration licence ("Pionki licence") over an 827 square-kilometer area in Poland with the northern half or "Lublin Trough" containing Devonian and carboniferous shales and the southern half or the "Radom-Krasnik High" containing Silurian and Devonian shales.[24]

Netherlands

Cuadrilla has also pursued exploration activities in the Netherlands.[24] In Noordoostpolder 202,379 acres composed of Namurian shales are predicted to contain multi trillion cubic feet (TCF) shale gas and in Noord Brabant 476,666 acres of Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic shales are thought to contain tight gas, shale gas, and oil shale.[25]: 6 

Hungary

Cuadrilla has been known to pursue exploration in Hungary.[24] In Tompa 38,796 acres composed of recomplete Miocene were described to contain multi TCF Basin Centred TGS.[25]: 6 

Controversies

Controversies surrounding the earthquakes at Weeton, Lancashire, and the protests at Balcombe, West Sussex, are described above.[citation needed]

Claim of economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing

Cuadrilla gave evidence to the British parliament in Westminster in 2011, based on an analysis by Pöyry consultancy, that using the shale gas reserves in Lancashire could lower British natural gas prices by as much as four percent, and indirectly lower electricity prices. However, at a 2013 meeting in Sussex Cuadrilla's public relations spokesman Mark Linder of Bell Pottinger said "We've done an analysis and it's [the influence on prices] a very small…at the most it's a very small percentage…basically insignificant."[26]

Misleading advertising

In April 2013, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) compelled Cuadrilla to withdraw a brochure published the previous year following a complaint by anti-fracking group Refracktion concerning 18 statements it argued were misleading, of which the ASA upheld 6, plus one in part.[27][28][29][30] Cuadrilla reportedly hired Westbourne Communications to assist with its efforts to promote fracking.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Cuadrilla. n.d. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  2. ^ Bloomberg Business Week, Cuadrilla Resources overview, accessed 5 Aug. 2013.
  3. ^ "AJ Lucas Group Limited" (PDF). Presentation. AJ Lucas Group Limited. March 2016. p. 16. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  4. ^ Go-Between Tied Funds to Carlyle. New York Times, May 14, 2009
  5. ^ a b Harvey, Fiona; Damian Carrington; Terry Macalister (13 March 2013). "Fracking Company Cuadrilla Halts Operations At Lancashire Drilling Site". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  6. ^ Cuadrilla website, Singleton, accessed 22 Aug. 2013.
  7. ^ Terry Macalister (21 September 2011). "Vast reserves of shale gas revealed in UK". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  8. ^ a b Andrew Gilligan (26 November 2011). "Field of dreams, or an environment nightmare?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  9. ^ a b Karl West (25 September 2011). "Enough gas in Lancashire 'to last Britain for 56 years'". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  10. ^ a b Jonathan Leake (12 February 2012). "Gas find is enough to last 70 years". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  11. ^ Robin McKie (25 February 2012). "Fracking: answer to our energy crisis, or could it be a disaster for the environment?". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  12. ^ Charles Clover (25 November 2011). "Easing the energy crisis with a bit of Blackpool rock". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  13. ^ "Lancashire's Shale Gas Estimated at 136bn by Cuadrilla". BBC News. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  14. ^ British company applies for shale gas fracking permit, New York Times, 5 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Cuadrilla update on Bowland exploration programme". News. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  16. ^ Cuadrilla website, Elswick, accessed 22 August 2013.
  17. ^ "Why does Cuadrilla own an old gas well near Elswick in Lancashire?". Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  18. ^ ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, 24 April 2013, accessed 7 June 2013
  19. ^ Cuadrilla website, Banks, accessed 22 August 2013
  20. ^ Stanley Reed (May 24, 2013). "British Villagers, Fearing Fracking, Protest Plan for Drilling". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  21. ^ "Cuadrilla Application for Extension". Balcombe Parish Council. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  22. ^ Turn Key. "Cuadrilla commences local discussions concerning Balcombe test drilling plans - Cuadrilla Resources". Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  23. ^ Shale gas company suspends drilling in Southern England, New York Times, 17 August 2013.
  24. ^ a b c Cuadrilla Resources, Cuadrilla expands European portfolio with important Poland exploration licence, 21 Nov. 2012.
  25. ^ a b Andy Lukas (17 July 2013). "Approaches to informed and balanced debate about shale gas in the UK – How we are working with the Communities" (PDF). Fracking and our Gas Future. AJ Lucas Group Ltd. p. 45. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  26. ^ 'Cuadrilla PR man admits George Osborne's shale gas revolution won’t cut energy bills' by Tom Bawden in the Independent, 12 june 2013
  27. ^ ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd 24 April 2013
  28. ^ "Fracking leaflet banned over 'misleading' claims". BBC News. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  29. ^ Fiona Harvey. "Cuadrilla censured by advertising watchdog over fracking safety claims". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  30. ^ "Press Reaction to the ASA ruling on Cuadrilla's newsletter - www.refracktion.com". www.refracktion.com. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  31. ^ Cave, Tamasin; Rowell, Andy (March 24, 2014). "The Corporate PR Industry's Sneaky War on Internet Activism". Vice. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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