@Geri He's not a moron - he knows full well that the geology in the US makes fracking feasible, whereas in the UK, the geology makes it extremely difficult to extract.

Difficult, particularly in that shale is mainly found in coal fields where mining has already been carried out. The risk of subsidence is high as a result.

Add on to that, there is a very low upper limit to which fracking is actually profitable, and the current price of oil would makes it unprofitable - even in the US.