Work to decommission mothballed shale gas wells at the Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire is now expected to take until the end of March 2025, Cuadrilla has revealed.

This is more than three months after the deadline set in the site’s planning permission and a year later than the company scheduled last year.

But the delayed finish date could slip again. It depends on the arrival of a workover rig from another job in the UK, the company has said.

DrillOrDrop reported earlier this month that Cuadrilla was in breach of its planning consent over its failure to abandon the Preston New Road wells by 8 December 2024.

In a formal letter to Lancashire County Council, the company said:

“It is expected that the wellbore decommissioning programme will be completed by the end of March 2025, subject to the arrival of the workover rig in January/February.”

Cuadrilla’s representative, Nick Mace, wrote:

“The timeline to complete the wellbore decommissioning is dependent on rig availability. There is a very limited supply of suitable rigs in the UK, but I can confirm that Cuadrilla has contractually secured a workover rig for the work.

“However, the rig is currently operating at another UK onshore site and is not scheduled to be finished there until January 2025. Consequently, the rig is scheduled to arrive at Preston New Road in January/ February 2025.

“The exact arrival date of the rig is linked to the date of completion of its ongoing work.”

Mr Mace’s explanation appears to conflict with a comment from one of the UK’s leading land well abandonment firms. PW Well Services told the BBC News earlier this month that rigs were readily available in the UK to plug in oil and gas wells.

Jonathan Haine, head of development management and planning policy at Lancashire County Council, told a resident this week:

“Cuadrilla submitted a letter on 3rd December 2024 providing an update on the anticipated restoration timescale.

“The timescale that they have provided goes beyond the dates contained in the current planning permission for the site so we are currently considering our position regarding what further action might be required to ensure the restoration of the site within a reasonable timescale.”

The resident, Jeff Turner, told us:

“I am glad the council will finally have to get involved as there is now a clear breach of the planning permission.”

He said he was “dismayed” that the council had not got involved sooner:

“Due to Lancashire County Council’s weak approach we are now in a position that Cuadrilla are around 16 months behind and have not even started decommissioning.”

Miranda Cox, a local campaigner and member of Frack Free Lancashire, said today:

“Whilst we welcome this update as a sign that this sorry saga may be drawing to a conclusion, we will not be celebrating until we have evidence that the site is restored.

“We note that progress is dependent upon the vague timescale regarding a work over rig. Until Cuadrilla remove their flare stack and silica sand, plug the well and remove all trace of this toxic industry from our community we will continue to be vigilant.”

Susan Holliday, from Preston New Road Action Group, said:

“It is good that there finally appears to be a detailed plan for decommissioning the site, however, we have to wonder if it will be kept to.

“Cuadrilla have so far had 18 months to do this work and everything seems to be being crammed into the last 6 months. We hope that there is no delay in the responses from the HSE and Environment Agency or the availability of the workover rig, as this will provide Cuadrilla with an excuse for further delays.

“We look forward to the work commencing and the blot on our landscape finally being removed, but with Cuadrilla at the helm I am afraid that we need to see progress before we will believe that it is actually happening.”    

In 2023, Cuadrilla allowed seven months for well decommissioning when it applied for an extension of planning permission at Preston New Road.

The company’s timeline presented to county councillors said the plug and abandonment process would start in September 2023 and finish by the end of March 2024.

Under the new timeline, the time available for decommissioning could be shortened to as little as one month if the rig is not on site until late February and the March 2025 deadline is met.

Site restoration

Under the terms of the planning permission, Cuadrilla must also return the Preston New Road site to farmland.

This involves removing acoustic panels, aggregate and hardstanding, gates and fencing and remaining equipment, such as the flare stack. Soil stripped from the site must be returned and re-seeded. The junction with the A583 must be reduced in size and a new hedge planted.

In 2023, Cuadrilla allowed six months for site restoration (1 January 2025-30 June 2025).

But Mr Mace said in the letter that this work would take just two-three months and still be completed by the expiry of the planning permission in June 2025.

On restoration, Mr Mace said:

“Cuadrilla has started the procurement process to select a civil engineering contractor. Selection of the contractor is expected to be completed in January 2025.”

He said the civil engineering work could begin in March 2025, “subject to wellbore decommissioning progress”.

Mr Mace added that in January 2025 Cuadrilla would submit a scheme to restore the site entrance to one suitable for agricultural purposes.

Updates

Cuadrilla was required by the 2023 planning permission to submit six-monthly reports to Lancashire County Council on the progress of work at Preston New Road .

The first two reports, due on 7 December 2023 and 7 June 2024, were delayed. (DrillOrDrop reports here and here)

The most recent report, due on 7 December 2024, was submitted by Mr Mace on 3 December 2024. It can be viewed in the council’s planning website (see Supporting Information section of the June 2023 planning application) or above in this article.

The report also included updates on Cuadrilla’s contacts with other regulators. Mr Mace reported:

• The independent well examiner has completed a review of Cuadrilla’s wellbore plug and abandonment programme
• Cuadrilla has submitted the wellbore Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations (BSOR) notification to the Health and Safety Executive
• The company has notified the North Sea Transition Authority
• The company has notified the Environment Agency about the plug and abandonment programme and plans to continue groundwater and surface water monitoring

Formal notices

Under a condition of the planning permission, Cuadrilla must give Lancashire County Council seven days’ notice before work begins on well decommissioning.

The Environment Agency requires one month’s notice and the Health and Safety Executive requires 21 days’ notice before work begins to decommission the wells.

Mr Mace said:

“At the time of writing this update Cuadrilla is waiting on responses from both regulators.”

He added that the Preston New Road monitoring of groundwater would continue during decommissioning of the wellbores, under the terms of the environmental permit.

He said Cuadrilla intended to surrender the permit in 2026 and groundwater monitoring boreholes would be decommissioned in the first half of 2026.

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