Although it produces a domestic gas supply, fracking is unpopular with the public and has prompted safety concerns over damage to buildings and water pollution.

But in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr Samuel, who is leaving his post at the end of this year, suggested the technique could return in years to come.

“We’ve left the door open to industry, and one operator is wanting to kind of progress the science, and try and understand if there is a way that it could be done without exceeding the seismic event limits,” he said.

Ministers have not ruled out the prospect of more fracking in the future if they are presented with evidence that tremors can be kept to a minimum. However, they have been keen to stress that they have no plans to lift the fracking moratorium, and that any new developments would take at least a decade to set up.

Tremor-free extraction

Dr Samuel, who previously managed the extraction of shale gas in the Marcellus Formation in the north-east of the United States for BG Group, was sceptical about the possibility of new methods for tremor-free extraction being developed soon.

“This is not easy geology, to completely understand the faults that are causing it below seismic resolution,” he said.

“From what we’ve seen in geology and the bar that needs to be crossed, it will be a long way off.”

MPs have questioned the decision to set the limit for tremors at 0.5 on the Richter scale – four times lower than the limit in the US. An OGA report found that, at worst, the tremors had caused “slight non-structural” damage to buildings near a fracking site. 

“We ended support for fracking because it is not currently possible to accurately predict the probability and severity of earthquakes associated with the process,” a Whitehall source said.

“It remains our position that fracking will not be allowed to proceed unless compelling new scientific evidence on its safety is provided.”

Dr Samuel’s intervention comes after MPs urged the Government to reconsider its effective ban, and called for a reversal of the OGA’s order for two sites run by Cuadrilla in Lancashire to be filled in with concrete.

“At a time of such geopolitical strife, we cannot refrain from actions that would improve the position of the UK and its allies,” 34 Conservative MPs and peers said in a letter to Boris Johnson on Sunday.

Although the UK imports less than five per cent of its gas from Russia, the EU receives about 40 per cent from the country, making it vulnerable to Vladimir Putin shutting off pipelines.

Wean Continent off supply

Dr Samuel suggested that the UK could export more North Sea oil and gas to Europe in an attempt to wean the Continent off Russian supply.

“In terms of strict security of supply, I think what we can say is that [North Sea fossil fuels] give options,” he said.

“I think one needs to think of Europe as a kind of whole gas market, and I think the more options that Europe has the better, particularly in the light of geopolitics.”

The OGA has also called on firms to support the Government’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

“I personally am very concerned about the climate emergency,” Dr Samuel said, adding that firms “can do more to earn trust in their own licence to operate”.

“Right now, it’s no secret that a number of operators are making very decent profits,” he said.

“I’m expecting that they show real commitment to reinvesting in the oil and gas projects.”