Is fracking the solution to Russian gas problem? | Tom Crotty

Energy giant Ineos has offered to drill a fracking test site in the UK to show that it can be done safely. Speaking to Dominic O'Connell on Times Radio Breakfast, Ineos CEO Tom Crotty said: "We never got the chance to do what we said we'd do, which is to do a full assessment of the technology, do all the science and then make a decision... What we want to do is finish that process." Asked whether the government's test was still for the company to be able to predict earthquakes or earth tremors following fracking, he said: "Yeah, predictability is really important. "And a lot of the predictability is understanding geology. And that's what we were trying to do, is understand the geology, let's do this in areas where, you're never going to have zero risk, there's always going to be some risk, but where the risk is absolutely low. "And clearly, the risk to the public is zero, because what the government introduced is an ability to stop if you have any tremors that reach a certain level. "So that's what still apply. The key is selecting the sites and doing it in the right place." Tom Crotty explained that rising energy prices should be considered when deciding to allow fracking. He said: "We need gas for the next 30 years for the energy transition. We are absolutely 100% committed to moving to renewables. In fact, we're spending a lot of money as a company, we announced £2 billion in clean hydrogen recently, we want to get to that transition. "But it is a transition and it's going to take 30 years to do that. At the moment, we're going to be reliant wholly on imported gas, coming across from, halfway across the world, often from regimes that we don't feel comfortable with when we're sitting on gas under our feet. "Now, it seems sensible to at least complete the science to say 'Could we access that gas instead?'" Listen to Tom Crotty's interview on Times Radio. --- Times Radio brings you the latest breaking news, expert analysis and well-informed discussion on the biggest stories of the day. 📻 Listen now - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio Follow Times Radio on social: 🔵 Facebook   / thetimesradio   🔵 Twitter   / timesradio   🔵 Instagram   / timesradio   Subscribe here:    / @presidenttrumpreport