Energy professor predicts Scottish Government fracking ban
The Scottish Government will block fracking as the industry has no “social licence” north of the border, a professor of energy policy has predicted.
underground coal gasification
Scottish Government to reveal decision on Cluff’s UCG plans
The Scottish Government will tomorrow reveal whether it intends to block a North Sea pioneer’s controversial plans to tap un-mined coal beneath the Firth of Forth.
Cluff insists Scottish UCG plans not dead in water
North Sea oil pioneer Algy Cluff insisted yesterday plans for unconventional gas extraction in the Firth of Forth were not dead. He was speaking after his company said it was switching its “primary focus” away from the firth to pursue underground coal gasification (UCG) projects in England, and conventional oil and gas developments in the North Sea. Green groups which recently led a protest against his Scottish UCG plans said it was a “massive victory” for campaigners but the issue would not be buried until his firm handed back its UCG licences.
Cluff brands new UCG research wasteful following government moratorium
A North Sea oil and gas pioneer yesterday urged the Scottish Government not to squander taxpayers’ money on further research into underground coal gasification (UCG). It comes after the government slapped a moratorium on UCG and appointed a scientist to carry out an independent assessment into the potential impacts of the technology. The government also widened the scope of research that is being conducted into fracking, which was the subject of a separate planning ban introduced in January.
Joint venture targets firth’s coal reserves
A Scottish-Australian mining joint venture is targeting 1billion tonnes of clean coal from deep beneath the Firth of Forth to generate electricity for Scotland.
UGC another opportunity for North Sea
As this column was being written, world leaders were meeting in Copenhagen to try to agree targets for reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions.