Quake fears stopped drilling after tremor

FRACKING came to a grinding halt yesterday amid fears it is causing earthquakes.

Energy firm Cuadrilla said it would stop fracking at its site for 18 hours following a tremor of 0.8 magnitude.

The controversial drilling for shale gas only started on October 15 after a legal challenge failed.

Yesterday’s tremor was the 17th to occur in nine days detected around the Cuadrilla gas exploration site in Little Plumpton, Lancs. Because of its size, over 0.5 magnitude, it was branded a “red event”.

According to the firm, the shaking would not have been felt by people.

A spokesman for Cuadrilla said: “Events such as these result in tiny movements that are way below anything that would be felt at surface.” Cuadrilla started up the plant 12 days ago. It had previously worked in Blackpool, but work was halted in 2011 after there were two tremors.

The spokesman added: “A micro seismic event of 0.76ML (local magnitude) was detected just after 11.30am this morning at our shale gas exploration site.

“Cuadrilla was hydraulically fracturing the shale rock adjacent to a well at the time and the seismicity is classed as a red event in line with the traffic light monitoring system regulated by the Oil and Gas Authority.

“Operations have now paused for the next 18 hours during which seismicity levels will continue to be measured. Without the sophisticated monitoring in place at Cuadrilla, they would not be detected.”

The Star Says: Page 6