UK awards first fracking license in five years

Independent firm Third Energy has been awarded the first UK license for hydraulic fracturing since 2011. It’s a boost for the nascent industry but don’t expect an imminent shale gas revolution

AT LAST the UK’s shale gas industry has received a much-needed boost. On 23 May local government officials in northern England awarded Third Energy a license to hydraulically fracture an existing well in Yorkshire. The firm plans to carry out fracking at its site outside Kirby Misperton, near the picturesque North York Moors National Park, to test if gas will flow from the rocks and for how long. It hopes to do so by the end of the year. But commercial-scale shale gas production will take at least a decade and depend on whether the government's plan to streamline its regulatory process works. Even Rasik Valand, Third Energy’s chief executive, said not to expect a shale gas bonanza in norther