Fracking could bring double boom for truck operators

Large-scale UK shale gas production could create a double boom for Britain’s truck operators, by simultaneously increasing demand for transport services and reducing the cost of fuel. 

A report by London’s Institute of Directors, entitled Getting Shale Gas Working, suggests that UK shale gas production could trigger investments worth £3.7 billion a year.

It could also create 74,000 jobs, the report claims, and reduce the UK’s dependency on imported natural gas from a postulated 76 per cent in 2030 to just 37 per cent, with tax revenues from gas extraction easing the pressure on government to increase fuel duties, and expenditure on imported gas being reduced by 50 per cent.

The UK’s road transport sector is well placed to benefit from a shale gas boom. A single 10-well pad, taking up a land area of two hectares, would see a total of between 11,155 and 31,288 truck movements over its 20-year life, depending upon whether the water used in the hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) process is piped in or transported by road tanker, according to Getting Shale Gas Working.

In totality, the industry could use up to 54 million cubic metres of water per year, which is a lot if it is to be transported by road, but is just 0.05 per cent of the UK’s total consumption of abstracted water.

Onshore oil and gas production is not new to the UK. Europe’s largest onshore oilfield is operated in the heart of one of the most environmentally-sensitive areas in Britain at Wych Farm in Dorset, and has been producing oil and gas without significant incident since 1979. Wych Farm is one of about 120 land sites consisting of 300 wells currently extracting oil and gas by conventional means in the UK.

According to the United Kingdom Onshore Operators Group, there is little difference in the drilling techniques used to establish these sites, and those that will be used for shale gas extraction. UKOOG estimates that some 50 or 60 exploratory wells will be drilled into shale rock across the United Kingdom in the next two to three years. The first in the UK was drilled in Fylde near Blackpool some 18 months ago.

The difference comes after drilling, when a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected into the borehole under pressure to fracture the shale rock and release the gas. It is this ‘fracking’ process which has excited considerable controversy, with concerns being raised about its environmental impact.

UKOOG estimates that it will take three or four years to get the UK shale industry into production, and the main loads for the truck industry will include the drilling rigs and associated equipment and consumable material, the cement used to line the wells, fracking additives and, most significant of all, the water used in the fracking process itself.

The UK is well-equipped with a water pipeline network which may be used to supply some of the sites, but all the used fluid will still have to be removed from the site for safe disposal by road tanker.

Experience in North America suggests that the truck industry experiences a boom in areas where fracking is taking place. Heavy truck dealers report shale gas increasing business by as much as a factor of three, not necessarily all in the sales of new trucks, but also in vehicle preparation and modification, maintenance and repair.

Vehicle body types used include stainless steel water tankers and dry bulk tankers, besides specialist vehicles for moving machinery. Hauliers in North America are using a variety of articulated, rigid and drawbar truck/trailer combinations as access restrictions vary considerably from site to site.

Many new drilling rigs will have to be commissioned: there are currently only 77 suitable drilling rigs in commission across the whole of Europe.

As the debate rages between those advocating the economic benefits of fracking and those highlighting potential environmental pitfalls, a fair degree of outrage from campaigners is to be expected by contractors – with one haulier involved in transporting a drilling rig already having reported an act of sabotage against one of its vehicles. Sustained protests have centred around a test-drilling site at Balcolmbe, West Sussex, while activists have also staged demonstrations at the offices of energy company Cuadrilla and its PR firm, Bell Pottinger.

The prime minister has already told the UK to “get behind fracking,” adding: “I want all parts of our nation to share in the benefits.”

 In his article for the Daily Telegraph last month, David Cameron continued: “International evidence shows there is no reason why the process should cause contamination of water supplies or other environmental damage, if properly regulated. And the regulatory system in this country is one of the most stringent in the world. If any shale gas well were to pose a risk of pollution, then we have all the powers we need to close it down.”

But former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP, who was among dozens arrested in August during the protests at Balcombe, told ITN: “Scientists are telling us we need to leave two thirds of known fossil fuels in the ground if we’re to avoid the worst of climate change… and that means that searching for every last drop of fossil fuels via fracking is completely perverse.”

Defending her decision to take direct action, Lucas said the government wasn’t listening to those expressing their views via democratic means, and should refocus its efforts on investing in clean energy sources.