Britain Holds Biggest Shale Basin In The World

The British Geological Survey (BGS) report estimates that there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of shale gas trapped in the Bowland shale basin alone. In fact, the BGS’s upper estimate is almost twice that figure, 2281 tcf. This would make it by far the biggest shale basin in the world. 10% of Bowland Shale would equal 130 trillion cubic feet – or about 50 years of total UK consumption. There are many other shale areas in Britain. And then there are Britain’s offshore shale reserves: ”There will be a lot more offshore shale gas and oil resources than onshore,” Nigel Smith, subsurface geologist and geophysicist at the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. UK offshore reserves could be five to 10 times as high as onshore, said. --The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 27 June 2013