Fracking and Jobs Debate / Report says it could create 7 000 jobs in NZ while UK gives green light

Venture Taranaki has joined in on the fracking debate, releasing a study that forecasts billions of dollars and thousands of jobs over the next decade if fracking is allowed to continue.

The economic development agency and Wellington-based economic analysis company Berl have developed a report on the economic impact of the fracking of onshore oil and gas wells in New Zealand.

The report presents three fracking scenarios covering the consequences of the practice being banned, allowed to continue as now, or expanded into emerging areas of exploration including coal-seam gas and shale oil.

Yesterday a VT contingent travelled to Wellington to report the study’s findings to Treasury, the Minister of Energy and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Today, the findings are published exclusively in the Taranaki Daily News.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Fracking ‘Could Create 7000 Jobs’, Venture Taranaki… | Stuff.co.nz.

UK gives green light to fracking 

The contentious practice of fracking for shale gas has been given the go-ahead in the UK, but only under stringent new rules that the country’s leading shale driller says will add “millions of dollars” to its production costs.

The government decision was applauded by many in the energy industry who hope it will drive down gas prices by putting the country at the heart of what Prime Minister David Cameron this week described as a potential “shale gas revolution”.

The growth of shale gas has transformed the energy landscape in the US, which pioneered fracking, by lowering gas prices and reversing the fortunes of some manufacturers.

But the UK move also unleashed a wave of protests from environmental campaigners such as Friends of the Earth, which condemned what it said was a “reckless decision which threatens to contaminate our air and water and undermine national climate targets”.

Green groups plan to lobby Conservative MPs in constituencies where fracking is likely. The upmarket Cheshire seat of Tatton represented by the chancellor, George Osborne, could potentially be affected, prompting one Liberal Democrat official to joke: “Most of the shale gas is under Tory constituencies, so we’ll see how much they like it when the drilling starts.”

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via UK gives green light to fracking – FT.com.