There are now just days to go before Cuadrilla are forced to pour cement into England’s only viable shale gas wells, and BEIS is still sitting on its hands. For the third time in less than a week, the energy firm’s CEO Francis Egan has once again implored the government to withdraw its mandate to fill the wells, and again it’s falling on deaf ears. Anyone home, Kwasi?

In a statement today, Egan slammed the government for “failing to match its rhetoric with action“:

“Since Wednesday BEIS and the OGA have been repeatedly contacted by and on behalf of Cuadrilla to discuss how to give practical effect to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State’s statements.  The only clear and unambiguous response from these verbal and written contacts has been verbal confirmation from the OGA that the 30th June remains the legal deadline to plug both wells with cement. It is clear that OGA will be in no position to reverse that until it receives a clear instruction from the Business Department.”

Kwasi claimed at the despatch box last week “it did not necessarily make any sense to concrete over the wells”, yet here we are, at the eleventh hour, watching the man actually instructed to do that begging for a way out. Tick tock…

UPDATE: BEIS responds by saying “Cuadrilla were informed in June 2021 of the requirement to decommission two non-producing wells by the end of June 2022. As with any licensee, if Cuadrilla wants to extend this deadline they can apply for an extension from the Oil and Gas Authority.” Guido understands Caudrilla wrote formally to the Oil and Gas Authority last Wednesday. They have heard nothing back yet…