A huge gas field has been discovered under Lincolnshire which could fuel the UK for over a decade and generate thousands of jobs, an energy firm has claimed.
If use of the site - situated near the market town of Gainsborough - is given the greenlight, it could boost the British economy by over £100billion.
Tens of thousands of jobs could also be created, whilst the UK could reduce reliance on energy imports.
Edgon Resources, the company behind the discovery, will formally announce its findings at a conference later this month.
A huge gas field has been discovered under Lincolnshire (not pictured)
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The field lies under a lightly populated area however extends towards large cities Sheffield and Doncaster.
The entire site is larger than Shell’s Jackdaw development in the North Sea - which has had its drilling put on pause until given renewed approval from the Government.
Consultants Deloitte, who analysed the test drilling results on behalf of Egdon, said that using gas from the field would benefit the environment as opposed to using resources from abroad.
The area contains about 480 billion cubic metres of gas, which is about seven times as much as the UK consumes in a year.
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The field lies under a lightly populated area however extends towards large cities Sheffield and Doncaster
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To use the field, a ban on new oil and gas licensing introduced by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband would have to be lifted.
Miliband and many other MPs are also opposed to fracking - the technique that would need to be used to extract the gas.
Critics say that fracking - a method of extracting oil and natural gas from deep underground - contradicts with net zero goals.
The UK currently has a target of meeting net zero by 2030, though opposers have said that the policy is to blame for higher energy bills.
Mark Abbott, boss of Egdon, said that the test results from Gainsborough “compare favourably with US commercial shale operations and are potentially world class".
Miliband and many other MPs are opposed to fracking - the technique that would need to be used to extract the gas
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The area contains about 480 billion cubic metres of gas, which is about seven times as much as the UK consumes in a year
GettyHe added: “We could access all that energy from drilling pads on the ground above, each roughly the size of one or two football fields.
“The land take would be far smaller than for solar farms and the energy produced would be far greater.”
A Government spokesperson told The Independent: “We intend to ban fracking for good and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect current and future generations.
“The biggest risk to our energy security is staying dependent on fossil fuel markets and only by sprinting to clean power by 2030 can the UK take back control of its energy and protect both family and national finances from price spikes.
“Through our Plan for Change, we will reignite our industrial heartlands as we seize the opportunities of the clean energy transition, and will continue to drive investment for businesses and communities in the UK.”
