Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to explore alternative methods to fracking for extracting shale gas.

The Ministerial Statement of 4 November 2019 makes clear that the pause on shale gas exploration and extraction applies specifically to operations that require Hydraulic Fracturing Consent. The definition of associated hydraulic fracturing is set out under section 4B of the Petroleum Act 1998 (inserted by Section 50 of the Infrastructure Act 2015), and involves the injection of more than 10,000 cubic metres of fluid in total, or more than 1,000 cubic metres of fluid per stage.

Activities outside of this definition are not included in the pause.