Fracking Comeback in U.K. as Browne Seeks Shale Bonanza: Energy

Two U.K. drillers are taking the lead in exploring for the country’s first shale gas after a moratorium ended, with one of them backed by ex-BP Plc chief John Browne and the other soon to count China as an investor.

Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. -- part-owned by Browne’s private-equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC -- and IGas Energy Plc said they’ll drill at least four wells in 2013. New investors are set to enter the U.K. industry, with Cuadrilla holder AJ Lucas Group Ltd. in talks over its share in the Bowland Basin, an area that may hold 100 times the gas imported by the country every year.