UK report reveals large oil deposits

23 May 2014 Last updated at 08:10

There are several billion barrels of oil in shale rocks under large parts of southern England, a report published later is expected to say.

But getting the oil out of the ground will involve the controversial process known as fracking.

The study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) covers areas including Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

The government is planning to offer more compensation for towns affected by fracking, according to press reports.

The BBC's John Moylan said that although the BGS study will say that there are several billion barrels of oil in place, is not clear how much would be economically recoverable.

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Analysis

A series of reports has concluded that locally, fracking for oil and gas is relatively benign, if done with care.

But reports continue to emerge from the USA and Australia about careless fracking polluting air and water.

And since anti-fracking protests in Sussex last summer, support for the technology has slumped to below 50% in the UK.

People are most worried about water pollution and earthquakes, but experts say the biggest local impact is more likely to be on traffic and noise.

The UN's climate panel said gas (implicitly from fracking) could be a bridge to a low-carbon future - if it substitutes for coal and if accidental methane releases are stopped.

The Environment Agency says the UK cannot meet greenhouse gas laws unless further technology is introduced to capture and store the emissions of CO2 from gas.

But he said the report's estimates could still have implications for the UK's long-term energy security and kick-off a drive to start fracking for oil in the region.

By way of comparison, the equivalent of around 45 billion barrels of oil has been extracted from the North Sea over the past 40 years.

Last year, a BGS study of the North of England suggested there could be as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas contained in shale rocks.

The fracking process involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into rock at high pressure, and it has sparked demonstrations by environmentalists. Some governments have banned the process.

Critics argue that fracking damages water supplies and can cause earthquakes. There have been strong anti-fracking protests at Balcombe, West Sussex, against test-drilling.

However, a government report published in June 2012 concluded that fracking was safe if adequately monitored.

Politically sensitive

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted fracking will be "good for our country" and has blamed a "lack of understanding" of the process for some of the opposition.

There were media reports on Friday that the government will release details of additional compensation arrangements for communities affected by fracking, in order to stave off opposition.

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"Start Quote

There's been a long history of oil and gas exploration in this area. We as a company produce oil and gas from around 20 sites across that area"

End Quote Andrew Austin Chief executive, IGAS

There have already been promises of one-off payments of up to £100,000 per site and a share in the profits.

Fracking is also politically sensitive. Tory peer Lord Howell of Guildford - who apologised last year after saying that fracking should take place in the North East because it was "desolate" - recently spoke about the issue again, and said the Conservative Party could lose votes by pursuing plans to frack.

The counties covered by the BGS survey are considered strong Tory territory.

For many years, there has been more traditional exploration and development of oil and gas in the region.

Andrew Austin, chief executive of the onshore energy IGAS, said it had long been known that southern England had extensive resources.

He told the BBC: "We've known that there's a big potential for oil and gas explorations across the country but particularly in terms of oil in the Weald Basin which is the area that stretches roughly from Winchester across towards Gatwick, up to the M25 and down to the coast at Chichester.

"There's been a long history of oil and gas exploration in this area. We as a company produce oil and gas from around 20 sites across that area. Around 40 million barrels have been recovered from that area to date."

In the US, fracking for oil and gas has created an energy boom and led to speculation that the country could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer by 2020, or even sooner.

Gas prices in the US have fallen sharply as a result, and other countries are now hoping that shale oil and gas could also lead to lower domestic energy prices.

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