Shale industry would benefit from single legislative framework and centralised planning decisions, expert says

In the absence of "consolidated legislation" covering all aspects of the planning and regulatory consenting processes for shale gas exploration and exploitation, Jennifer Ballantyne of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, suggested the creation of a regulatory "one-stop shop" covering all aspects of the consenting process. Ballantyne was speaking at the first Scottish conference on shale gas and fracking, hosted by Pinsent Masons and The Scotsman newspaper.

"A one-stop shop encompassing all shale gas consents would certainty reduce the administrative burden which would currently be placed upon shale gas developers," Ballantyne told the conference.

She said that the current consenting regime, under which permits must be obtained from a variety of agencies and through a number of different regimes, was not without precedent. Until the relevant consolidating legislation came into force in Scotland and England in 2009 and 2010, offshore renewables were subject to similar requirements.

Almost every aspect of shale gas exploration, from initial exploratory drilling through to the eventual decommissioning of a future shale well, is already covered by existing legislation. In Scotland, the decision whether or not to grant a licence to extract oil or gas from a particular area rests with the UK Government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC); however, these licences do not give consent for drilling or other exploration work under the planning system. These consents must be granted by either local planning authorities or the Scottish Government.

Speakers at the conference also included Duarte Figuera, the Head of the Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil at DECC; John Ireland of the Scottish Directorate for Energy and the Environment; former chief executive of Dana Petroleum Stuart Paton; and Gordon Hughes, Professor of Economics at the University of Edinburgh.

Paton, a geologist, said that reassuring the public about the safety of fracking, where water is pumped at high pressure into shale rock to force out gas for capture, would be an important issue for the developing industry as projects moved forward. In 2011, newspapers said that a number of small earthquakes that took place at a site in Cumbria were a result of fracking activity. As a result, DECC developed a 'traffic light' seismic monitoring system which will require a developer to cease production immediately in the event of activity above 0.5 on the Richter scale. This level is well below that measured during the two earthquakes in 2011, which registered 2.3 and 1.5 respectively.

"A magnitude two earthquake is the same as a lorry going past your house," Paton said. "Properly managed – which the UK has an excellent record at – there is nothing to be concerned about in terms of the development of shale oil and gas in the UK."

Pinsent Masons' planning and environmental law expert Jennifer Ballantyne suggested that this limit could be revisited as the industry developed.

"Over time it may be that, after a number of wells have been safely 'fracked', then this very low threshold would be increased and made more proportionate to the real risks – but, for now, this precautionary approach is being taken," she said.

"As I understand it, of the thousands of wells which have been hydraulically fractured worldwide, there has only been evidence of fracking activity causing "felt" seismicity, as opposed to microseismicity, on three occasions, all at relatively minor levels," she said.