Fracking firm offers funds to communities if ban is lifted

AN ENERGY company lobbying for the UK’s ban on fracking to be lifted will offer payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds to communities in areas where it extracts shale gas, if ministers end the moratorium.

Speaking as scientists finalised a Government-commissioned review of fracking, Francis Egan, Cuadrilla’s chief executive, said it had decided to put 6 per cent of its shale gas revenue back into “local community funds” to “ease the cost of living crisis”. He claimed the payments would “run into hundreds of millions” for each site and “benefit thousands of households”.

The proposal mirrors similar funds put in place by wind farm developers to encourage consent for turbines. Ministers have suggested the funds could be used to cut energy bills in the area.

The announcement will heap pressure on Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, ahead of receiving the review from the British Geological Survey. Its findings are currently being peerreviewed by scientists in the United States and are expected to be submitted within days to Mr Kwarteng, who ordered the review amid pressure from

Tories in Parliament to lift the ban.

Craig Mackinlay, who chairs the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs and has been a prominent advocate for fracking, said: “It’s vital that communities which host shale gas wells know exactly what they’re getting.

“This industry-wide offer is a very generous one and it will ensure that, wherever sites are situated, it will be the local residents who see the greatest benefits.

“I am hopeful we are about to see an outbreak of common sense,” he added.

Cuadrilla’s offer appears to match a similar 2014 one made by Ineos, the petrochemicals giant. It also pledged to give 6 per cent of its fracking revenue to landowners and communities.

Mr Egan said: “The UK’s shale gas potential extends right across the North of England and these regions should receive a fair share. Shale gas also has the potential to bring over 70,000 jobs across the North and Midlands.”

Cuadrilla has calculated one successful shale gas site, the size of a football pitch, could generate £285 million of “community funds” at today’s wholesale gas prices.