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Written question asked by Caroline Lucas (Green Party) on Wednesday, 14 November 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 November 2018. It was answered by Claire O'Neill (Conservative) on Wednesday, 21 November 2018 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Fracking: Earthquakes

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to introduce a requirement for independent well integrity tests at shale gas sites in the event of seismic events of greater than the red light 0.5 ML threshold occurring at such sites.

Answer

The Traffic Light System dictates that if an event of 0.5ML or above is detected and causally linked to operations, the operator must pause operations for 18 hours and reduce well pressure. Operations are only allowed to resume once regulators are satisfied that any risks have been appropriately mitigated and this includes consideration of well integrity by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The HSE robustly and independently regulates health and safety across Great Britain. The HSE has a proven track record of taking enforcement action where breaches of relevant legislation have occurred and, as an effective and proportionate regulator, will continue to do so when appropriate.

Under our existing legislation, the HSE requires operators of oil and gas wells to maintain well integrity throughout the lifecycle of the well, from design and construction to final decommissioning. The HSE routinely inspects the well integrity risk management systems of oil and gas well operators, and verifies these inspections by scrutinising statutory wells operation reports sent weekly to the HSE by the operator.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
191379
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Earthquakes Fracking
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk