The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) originally identified large areas of eastern and southern England as having the "best shale gas potential": The main area identified runs from just south of Middlesbrough in a crescent through East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and the Cotswolds to Somerset and Wiltshire.
As of June 2013, the Bowland Basin was the only area in the UK where wells have been drilled specifically for shale gas.