23/05/2014

'Huge' Oil Reserve Not Found

A long-awaited study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) has unexpectedly concluded that there is no oil in the Weald region of southern England.

It had been speculated that the report would confirm a high number of barrels of oil identified in shale rock in Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire in the southern England, amid new moves to step up the use of "fracking".

The Energy Minister Michael Fallon is reported to have said that he is neither "disappointed nor happy" over the findings of the BGS survey.

He also denied that the government "hyped" the UK's potential to delivery oil.

The report did however find that "there could be 4.4bn barrels of oil in shale rocks from Salisbury to Tonbridge Wells – although recoverable reserves are likely to be a fraction of this."

(CVS/MH)

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