In March 2011 the energy firm Cuadrilla Resources began testing for gas on the Fylde coast in Lancashire. In 2008 the company had been awarded a licence to search for gas in a region stretching from Chorley out to the Lancashire coast, an area that has many centres of population, including Preston, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Lytham St Annes and Southport (Figure 1).
The gas is found in underground shale beds known as the Bowland Basin, which are formed from deposits of mud, silt, clay and organic matter. Cuadrilla reported that the amount of gas it had found, if recovered, could provide 5,600 jobs in the UK, including 1,700 in Lancashire. It announced that thousands of highly skilled posts would be created, paying an average wage of £55,000 per year. The company hoped to drill up to 400 wells over the course of 9 years. This could increase to 800 wells over 16 years if the gas extraction proved successful.
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