UK's CeraPhi Energy acquires former fracking company Third Energy

UK-based geothermal energy developer CeraPhi Energy announced on February 5 that it has acquired the business of Third Energy, a former shale gas development company.

The acquisition includes the subsidiaries Third Energy Trading, Wolfland Renewables, Wolfland Utilities, Third Energy UK Gas, and the 50% holding in West Heslerton Renewables.

The acquired assets, located in North Yorkshire, UK, comprise eight well sites housing twelve former gas wells in a suspended state. Additionally, the portfolio includes 22.4 km of 6-inch and 16.6 km of 3-inch subterranean pipelines, along with 22.4 km of buried fiber optic communication lines.

“The decarbonisation of heat represents a huge UK and global challenge in meeting our net zero targets," CeraPhi Energy CEO Karl Farrow said. "Combined with the continued insecurity customers face with volatility and seasonal cost of fossil fuels, we have to move geothermal energy to scale to reduce the cost of deploying direct use heat, which is an endless resource not subject to price fluctuation, enabling a move away from our dependency on fossil fuels within our day to day energy mix."

"By using the inexhaustible resource beneath our feet using closed-loop technology we can access this energy anywhere with zero environmental risk, requiring no hydraulic fracturing, no use of water and providing enough energy within the next 15 years to solve our energy crisis indefinitely," Farrow added. 

CeraPhi Energy is known for its proprietary CeraPhiWell system and CeraPhiPro modeling software, providing solutions for closed-loop geothermal energy deployment. It completed a successful commercial demonstration of its CeraPhiWell system at the Third Energy KMA site during the summer.