Shale’s big potential

SIR – Professor John Underhill (Letters, April 3) is right to point out that there are significant practical problems with shale gas production, mainly due to the low permeability of the rock layers or strata.

Nevertheless, shale-produced hydrocarbons have transformed the US economy and the early results here seem to be promising. The Government should give its full support to the current efforts. If the wells prove to be viable then fully engineered proposals can be put forward, in place of all the speculative hysteria that prevails at the moment. V T Evenson

Didcot, Oxfordshire