The chief executive of one of Cuadrilla’s major investors resigned unexpectedly this week. Allan Campbell has led the Australian mining contractor, AJ Lucas, since 1995. The company has a 43.7% stake in Cuadrilla and a direct investment of 25 per cent in each of Cuadrilla’s operations in the Bowland and Bolney (Balcombe) licence areas.

In September last year, AJ Lucas reported record losses of $126.9 million. The Australian newspaper reported that the company had averted potential disaster after completing a recapitalisation that included raising $200.8m.

The paper said: “Revenue fell 41.5 per cent, from $504.1m to $294.3m. AJ Lucas attributed the decline to ‘a reluctance to award work to the company while its balance sheet remained under strain’”. The Australian said AJ Lucas had been forced into heavy cost cuts, job losses and debt repayments because of cuts in exploration and development budgets at Australian mining companies.