Cuadrilla has today (25 July) issued its latest “Putting Lancashire First” commitments tracker to include figures up to 30 June 2018. The new figures show that to date over £10m has been invested into the local Lancashire economy by Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas exploration operations.
During the second quarter of 2018, Cuadrilla’s direct spend with suppliers in the county increased to £8.93 million. Indirect spend to the local economy, the amount of money Cuadrilla’s suppliers have sub contracted to other suppliers based in Lancashire, stands at £1.1 million.
The company has also increased its sponsorship of local initiatives in Lancashire with £220,000 being invested in community projects to date. This includes an extended partnership with the AFC Fylde Community Foundation to support a number of new community projects, from adult education programmes to community-based family sports schemes, to provide more positive opportunities for people living on the Fylde coast.
Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: “This is a milestone year for Cuadrilla, with the completion of our two horizontal exploration wells at Preston New Road. I am delighted to see that our exploratory work is already significantly delivering for the Lancashire economy with over £10 million invested to date.
“As we start preparing to hydraulically fracture our first two horizontal exploration wells we aim to demonstrate that Lancashire shale gas can be safely and sensibly developed in the county to supply local homes and businesses. As we grow, we look forward to working with even more local suppliers across the county and to seeing the local community benefiting from our efforts.”
In December 2016 CEO Francis Egan signed six public commitments to the county of Lancashire to commit Cuadrilla to putting Lancashire first in terms of creating jobs, investment, new skills and community initiatives as a result of shale gas exploration and, if exploration is successful, shale gas production in Lancashire. The tracker figures have been independently verified by Lytham-based Danbro Accounting Ltd. The next tracker will be released in October 2018 with figures to 30 September 2018.
