Britain Reinstates Fracking Ban Despite Buying U.S. Fracked Natural Gas

Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reinstated the country’s ban on hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) on Wednesday. That means no UK fracking for for oil and gas.

It’s not surprising given that the vast majority of British people likely don’t know they are already consuming literal boat loads of fracked natural gas from the U.S.

Yet here we are with Britain thinking its doing the environmentally suitable thing by not fracking and at the same time benefiting from the fruits of this energy extraction technique.

The UK Needs A Lot of Natural Gas

Here’s the truth about Britain’s energy situation. In 2021, the UK households used a staggering 109 terawatts hours of electricity about half of which got generated in gas-powered generators.

But a significant portion of the UK’s natural gas gets imported from the U.S. as liquefied natural gas (LNG) in specialty ships.

Last year the UK imported 42 terawatt hours of U.S. natural gas constituting around 39% of household use in Britain, data from analytics company Statista shows.

Britain Consumes Load of Fracked U.S. Natural Gas

Approximately two thirds of natural gas sold in the U.S. is extracted using fracking methods, according to the American Petroleum Institute. That means it is almost a certainty that two thirds of the gas Britain purchases from America is fracked, or approximately 26% of household use via electricity consumption. Stovetop gas use likely adds more.

Of course, no one blames people for wanting to keep warm in the northern hemisphere’s winter. It can be chilly to the extent that people die without heat.

However, what seems hypocritical is the willingness of Brits to use fracked gas as long as it isn’t from Britain.

Or perhaps just as likely, it is ignorance, willful or otherwise, of the population to how much the UK is dependent on the technology that is used to extract a vital resource.

I am not sure which is worse.