Cuadrilla Resources

Cuadrilla Resources
Founder Chris Cornelius, Peter Turner, Marc Bustin, Dennis Carlton, Mark Miller, Eric Vaughan, Andrewn Price
Headquarters Lichfield, England, United Kingdom
Key people
 Lord Browne, Chairman, Francis Egan, CEO
Website www.cuadrillaresources.com

Cuadrilla Resources is an oil and gas exploration and production company with headquarters and operations in the United Kingdom. It is best known for its ongoing effort to develop shale gas in the UK by using hydraulic fracturing. Its chairman is Lord Browne, former chief of BP and President of The Royal Academy of Engineering from 2006− 2011. The chief executive is Francis Egan.

The company was founded in 2007.[1] It is owned 42% by the Australian engineering company AJ Lucas, with an approximately equal ownership by the Anglo-American equity firm Riverstone Holdings.[2] The remainder is owned by the company management.[3] Cuadrilla is Spanish for group or party, and is pronounced in English roughly as /kwəˈdriːjə/.

Operations

Cuadrilla holds licences for ten sites in the UK. As of 2013, the company has drilled three wells, all in Lancashire, one of which was hydraulically fractured. The company produces gas from one Lancashire well drilled and hydraulically fractured in 1993 by a previous owner; the well is completed in a sandstone.

Lancashire

Cuadrilla estimates that Lancashire's shale gas could have a market value of £136 billion.[4]

The company drilled the well in Weeton, Lancashire, where two small earthquakes were caused by its hydraulic fracturing in April 2011. One of the earthquakes was large enough to be felt by some people at the surface.[5] The earthquakes led to a government-ordered moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, which has since been lifted. As of 2013, this is the only well hydraulically fractured by Cuadrilla.

The gas well at Elswick was drilled and hydraulically fractured by a previous owner in 1993. The gas extracted from sandstone is used to generate electricity for the national grid.[6] Bought by Cuadrilla in 2010. Cuadrilla has frequently used this as a showpiece site.[7] Cuadrilla's promotional use of Elswick brought it into conflict with the Advertising Standards Authority.[8]

Other sites:

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom

A proposed test well, half a mile from Balcombe in West Sussex, scheduled for summer 2013, was the scene of protests.[12] Caudrilla had explained that the drilling would last no more than four months and would not involve fracking, however they were to use acid washing to open natural fractures. Their planning permission was to expire on 28 September 2013.[13] They were to take samples of rock at around 900m (3,000 feet).[14] Cuadrilla suspended its drilling plans in August 2013 after consulting with the Sussex police, citing “threats of direct action against the exploration site.” The company said that the halt was done in the interests of safety of the drilling crew, the protesters, and the public.[15]

Other sites:

Outside of the United Kingdom

The company also holds a hydrocarbon exploration license over an 827 square-kilometer area in Poland.[16]

Controversies

Controversies surrounding the earthquakes at Weeton, Lancashire, and the protests at Balcombe, West Sussex, are described above.

Economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing

Cuadrilla gave evidence to the British parliament in Westminster in 2011, based on an analysis by Poyry consultancy, that using the shale gas reserves in Lancashire could lower British natural gas prices by as much as four percent, and indirectly lower electricity prices. However according to Cuadrill's public relations spokesman Mark Linder (of Bell Pottinger), at a meeting in Sussex in 2013, "“We've done an analysis and it's [the influence on prices] a very small…at the most it's a very small percentage…basically insignificant.”[17]

Misleading advertising

In April 2013, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) compelled Cuadrilla to withdraw a brochure published the previous year following a complaint by anti-fracking group Refracktion concerning 18 statements it argued were misleading, of which the ASA upheld 6, plus one in part.[18][19][20][21] Cuadrilla reportedly hired Westbourne Communications to assist with its efforts to promote fracking.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Bloomberg Business Week, Cuadrilla Resources overview, accessed 5 Aug. 2013.
  2. ↑ Riverstone, Cuadrilla Resources Holdings Ltd., accessed 5 Aug. 2013.
  3. ↑ AJ Lucas, Cuadrilla Resources, accessed 5 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Lancashire’s Shale Gas Estimated at 136bn by Cuadrilla". BBC News. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Harvey, Fiona; Damian Carrington and Terry Macalister (13 March 2013). "Fracking Company Cuadrilla Halts Operations At Lancashire Drilling Site". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  6. ↑ Cuadrilla website, Elswick, accessed 22 August 2013.
  7. ↑ http://frack-off.org.uk/why-does-cuadrilla-own-an-old-gas-well-near-elswick-in-lancashire/
  8. ↑ ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, 24 April 2013, accessed 7 June 2013
  9. ↑ Cuadrilla website, Banks, accessed 22 August 2013
  10. ↑ Cuadrilla website, Singleton, accessed 22 Aug. 2013.
  11. ↑ British company applies for shale gas fracking permit, New York Times, 5 July 2013.
  12. ↑ Stanley Reed (May 24, 2013). "British Villagers, Fearing Fracking, Protest Plan for Drilling". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ Cuadrilla page about the Balcombe well, accessed 31 May 2013
  15. ↑ Shale gas company suspends drilling in Southern England, New York Times, 17 Aug. 2013.
  16. ↑ Cuadrilla Resources, Cuadrilla expands European portfolio with important Poland exploration licence, 21 Nov. 2012.
  17. ↑ 'Cuadrilla PR man admits George Osborne's shale gas revolution won’t cut energy bills' by Tom Bawden in the Independent, 12 june 2013
  18. ↑ ASA Adjudication on Cuadrilla Resources Ltd 24 April 2013
  19. ↑ BBC Report on ASA ruling against Cuadrilla, 24 April 2013, accessed 31 May 2013
  20. ↑ Guardian Report on ASA ruling against Cuadrilla, 24 April 2013, accessed 31 May 2013
  21. ↑ Refracktion page about the ASA ruling, accessed 31 May 2013
  22. ↑ Cave, Tamasin; Rowell, Andy (March 24, 2014). "The Corporate PR Industry's Sneaky War on Internet Activism". Vice. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014.

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