First community payment under UKOOG shale community engagement charter

Cuadrilla made the first £100,000 payment to the UK Onshore Oil and Gas’ (UKOOG) Community Benefit Fund in August. The Fund will be managed by The Community Foundation for Lancashire, who will consult with the local community on which types of issues or projects the funds should be spent. These could include (but not be restricted to) community based projects to stimulate economic growth, to improve welfare in the surrounding area or to support energy saving or renewable energy projects.

The UKOOG Community Engagement Charter was set up to acknowledge the important role that local communities play in hosting sites on behalf of everyone in the country. Local communities are set to receive £100,000 for sites that host exploration wells where hydraulic fracturing takes place and 1% of revenue for those sites that produce commercial quantities of gas.

UKOOG estimates that the first 400 commercial sites could reduce the UK’s gas import dependency by 50% over the next 20 years. ‘This is based on each site having 10 wells, and each well producing 4bn cf of gas (bcf), which is potentially a conservative assumption given that wells in the Marcellus region of the US are now averaging 8bn cf,’ states the trade association. ‘Assuming a gas price of 50 pence per therm, the 1% share of revenue for communities from these 400 sites would add up to £800mn.’