HEYCO Energy Group joined the UK shale gas industry in addressing members of Parliament and the press on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. The unified message was clear: to reach energy security and lower record-high prices, the government must facilitate the exploration of domestic shale gas.
Charles McAllister, of the UK Onshore Operators Group, presented on the state of the domestic shale industry. George Yates, of HEYCO Energy Group, spoke about best practices learned for the U.S. shale boom, as well as the policy and regulatory changes the British government must make to replicate that success. Andy Mayer, COO of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Steve Bowler, CEO of IGas Energy, then joined McAllister and Yates for a panel discussion lead by Member of Parliament Steve Baker.
All UK shale players attended the event with the exception of Cuadrilla, who coincidentally had been scheduled to plug the country’s only shale gas wells. The government granted Cuadrilla a temporary reprieve and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to be reconsidering the fracking ban imposed in 2019.
Putin’s tragic war in Ukraine has focused Europeans on energy security, but the UK was facing record-high energy prices even before the invasion. The event was planned to coincide with a scheduled electricity price hike in April. British households are paying twice as much for electricity as they were one year ago, prices will rise 54% next month, and by the end of the year prices will be nearly triple what they were in 2021.
