UK will not support underground coal gasification
The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has stated that it will not support underground coal gasification (UCG), a controversial method of extracting gas connected with environmental damage and high levels of carbon emissions. The process involves injecting oxygen and steam below ground to release gas from coal seams. A government-commissioned report from consultants Atkins found that gas produced through UCG would be 40-100% dirtier in terms of carbon emissions than North Sea and imported gas. UCG was banned in Scotland in October.  

A highly polluting method of extracting gas has been effectively killed off in the UK after the government said it would not support the technology.

Underground coal gasification (UCG), which involves injecting oxygen and steam underground to release gas from coal seams, would massively increase UK carbon emissions if exploited, according to a government-commissioned report.

The review by consultants Atkins said if power stations used gas from the method, it would be 40-100% dirtier in terms of CO 2 emissions than burning gas from the North Sea and imports. Exploiting all the UK’s coal reserves would release the equivalent of 24 years of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the government was “minded to not support” the technique. Underground coal gasification has proved controversial elsewhere in the world, particularly over its environmental impact in Australia, and Scotland banned it in October.

It is considered very unlikely that the technique would take off in the UK without any financial or legislative support.

Cluff Natural Resources had been one of the biggest advocates for UCG in the UK, saying it would explore outside of Scotland after the government there indicated it was considering a ban. The company said it was disappointed at the stance the UK government had taken but it was no longer looking at gasification.

“Given our former interest in UCG we are obviously disappointed that the government has taken this view. However over the last 18 months Cluff Natural Resources has completed the transformation of its business away from UCG and for the last year we have been entirely focused on the exploration and appraisal of our exciting portfolio of conventional oil and gas assets in the North Sea,” it said in a statement.

The Atkins review, published on Thursday (pdf), found that burning gas to make electricity from UCG would result in emissions of 570-785g CO 2 equivalent per kilowatt hour, compared to 400g for natural gas normally.

A government spokesman said: “The Atkins report finds that emissions from underground coal gasification would be too high to be consistent with our commitment to a low-carbon future. We are therefore minded to not support the development of this technology in the UK.”

Jonathan Marshall, an energy analyst at the ECIU thinktank, said while the government turning its back on the technology should be welcomed, it was unlikely to have a huge impact as UCG was relatively “small fry”.

“UCG was a bit of a non-starter in the UK. It was not a suitable technology to provide power for replacing the coal power that is going offline, as the emissions were too high and it was too expensive,” he said.