Third earthquake in a week near UK fracking site

A magnitude 2.9 earthquake has been recorded near the UK’s only active shale gas site in Lancashire.

It is the third recorded in less than a week, coming after another earthquake with a magnitude of 2.1, measured at the Little Plumpton site on Saturday, which itself followed another tremor measuring 1.6 on Wednesday.

Local residents have described the impact of the quake. Samantha Wheeler, who lives five miles away, told the BBC her “wardrobe shook and her bed moved” and added: “It's getting really worrying.”

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Heather Goodwin said: “The walls of my house shook, there was a really deep, guttural roar.” She asked: “How long before there's real damage done and people injured?”

The latest quake, which was recorded yesterday morning, is stronger than those that forced Cuadrilla to suspend test fracking in 2011. The company said it was investigating the tremor and said no fracking was being carried out at the time.

Drilling had only been resumed in October after it was suspended at the site in 2011 following earthquakes of 1.4 and 2.3 magnitude.

Cuadrilla's chief executive, Francis Egan, said the company now measured “surface ground motion vibration” which allowed it to put any seismic activity “into context”. He said he “sincerely hoped” fracking would not be stopped this time.

Government guidelines state that if fracking causes quakes above 0.5 magnitude then all drilling must cease for 18 hours but the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said the current suspension could be longer.

The OGA said it wanted to assess whether Cuadrilla's fracking plans “continued to be appropriate to manage the risk” of increased seismic activity in the area.

Fracking is a method in which liquid is pumped underground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas or oil.

The Daily Mail says fracking can cause earthquakes “by introducing water to faultlines, lubricating the rocks and making them more likely to slip”.

Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth has called for a complete fracking ban after the latest tremors.

A spokesman said it was “getting out of hand,” adding: “It's clearly not under control and at this point there is only one thing that can fix this situation: a ban, right now.”