Government urged to close 'loophole' allowing mini fracking

Plans for a "mini fracking" site in Burniston near Scarborough have been rejected by North Yorkshire Council following local outcry.

The developer, Europa Oil and Gas, has already vowed to appeal the decision and told Sky News the practice is "completely" safe.

Campaigners are lobbying the UK government to close what they call a "loophole" in the fracking moratorium so that it includes mini fracking sites, over fears about tremors.

Europa, which applied for an exploratory well, said it could extract at least 41 billion cubic feet of gas, powering the equivalent of 130,000 homes at its peak.

But, citing concerns about the impact on the fragile coastline and tourism, councillors said they were "minded" to oppose it, pending further guidance expected from central government.

Fracking was effectively banned in England in 2019 after tremors of up to 2.9 in magnitude were recorded at a site near Preston New Road in Lancashire.

Yet a handful of proposals to do a "mini frack" - as the regulator the Environment Agency describes it - are currently working their way through England's planning system, including in West Newton in East Yorkshire and Wressle in North Lincolnshire.

It's estimated to have been used about 100-150 times onshore in the UK before, with no record of any tremors, according to one study in 2017.

Asked if it is safe, Europa CEO Will Holland told Sky News: "Yes, it's been proven. There's been no seismic events that have occured during the proppant squeeze operations in the UK.

"When they did a shale frack, there was a seismic event, because it's different."

The method, known as proppant squeeze, is supposed to carry a lower risk of triggering earthquakes than full scale hydraulic fracturing in shale rock. It target

But such earthquakes are impossible to predict, and very little is known about how Britain's geology reacts of any form of fracking.

The amount of gas Britain could retrieve from mini fracking is also unknown, but thought to be less than the major fields remaining offshore.

The Burniston site came up against 1,400 objections.

Fracking 'loophole'

The Labour government has pledged to make the de facto fracking ban permanent.

Campaigners at Friends of the Earth are urging it to close the "loophole" in the ban.

Its climate campaigner Tony Bosworth said ministers "must protect communities from fracking by the back door, by ensuring that this includes all types of fracking - including proppant squeeze".

Officials indicated they had no intention to do so.

A spokesperson said: "We will ban fracking for good and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect current and future generations."

While Labour promised in its manifesto to end new oil and gas projects, it said it would honour those areas that already had some form of licence, including for exploration, allowing some to still go ahead.

(c) Sky News 2026: Government urged to close 'loophole' allowing mini fracking