The UK government has been urged to withdraw its instruction to plug the country’s only shale wells and lift the ban on fracking to alleviate the energy crisis which has been worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The government imposed a moratorium on shale gas mining in England in 2019 after two minor earthquakes were attributed to fracking operations. Last month, energy company Cuadrilla said the government’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) had ordered its two horizontal shale wells in Lancashire to be filled and abandoned. But there have been calls from Conservative lawmakers for the ban to be lifted to alleviate the acute energy crisis that has been going on since last year. The calls have grown louder since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, prompting the UK to commit to phasing out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year. On March 9, Business Secretary Kwasi …