The map of the 13th round PEDL licences can be found on this link. These were known as the 13th round licences and covered some areas within and just outside B&NES. In 2008 the Government through the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) issued licences known as Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDL) to give exclusive rights to the licence holders to explore for and potentially extract shale gas or coal bed methane. This page provides information and links to further reading for people who are interested in or concerned about the subject. Coal bed methane is a similar process whereby boreholes are drilled into coal seams and then the water in these seams is pumped out to allow the methane to flow to the surface to be collected. This is a subject which has received a lot of attention in the media and could potentially affect the B&NES district. This gas is then collected at the surface and eventually fed into the mains gas supply. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is the process whereby deep boreholes (wells) are drilled into a shale rock bed and water, sand and some additional chemicals are injected at very high pressure to induce fractures in the rock to allow methane gas to escape. Shale Gas Extraction - Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) / Coal Bed Methane