Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s comments come as No 10 opens door to shift in UK position on fracking

Boris Johnson has told the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, that it does “not make sense” to seal its shale gas wells, the business secretary has revealed, amid tensions with his department which has repeatedly denied the government will change its position on fracking.

Johnson’s spokesperson opened the door to a shift in the UK’s position on fracking on Wednesday, saying that “all options” would be considered before the forthcoming energy strategy is completed. A No 10 source confirmed it was under review.

Labour said the government should double its onshore wind capacity – a measure which No 10 sources said was also under discussion – as well as recommitting to nuclear, as part of a five-point plan for energy security released by Ed Miliband.

Kwarteng, who has been a public sceptic about the benefits of fracking, insisted the government’s position had not changed, but he gave the strongest indication yet that the prime minister could change course on the order that shale gas wells will be closed with concrete by 30 June.

“In conversation with my right honourable friend the prime minister, we were clear that it didn’t necessarily make any sense to concrete over the wells. We’re still in conversations about that,” he told the House of Commons.

Amid tensions with backbenchers and rightwing campaign groups, Johnson’s spokesperson said the energy supply strategy would “consider all options, given the ongoing situation in Ukraine and the effect that that’s having on oil and gas prices.”

A source at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Kwarteng “accepted that fracking would not make a difference” to gas prices, but suggested the energy strategy could open the door to new fracking only if new safety evidence emerged, similar to the phrasing of the Tory manifesto. The source expressed scepticism any new scientific basis would in fact emerge.

Earlier this week, Kwarteng tweeted: “The wholesale price of gas has quadrupled in UK and Europe. Additional UK production won’t materially affect the wholesale market price. This includes fracking – UK producers won’t sell shale gas to UK consumers below the market price. They’re not charities.”

Johnson’s spokesperson, when asked repeatedly on Wednesday if he was signalling a change of strategy, emphasised there were open minds at No 10 given the changing economic climate.

“You’ve obviously seen that with the invasion of Ukraine and high global gas prices, it’s clear that we need to move away from our reliance on Russian hydrocarbons,” the spokesperson said. “So I think that everybody would expect the prime minister to look at all options.”

On Tuesday Steve Baker, the MP for High Wycombe and a trustee of the climate denial thinktank Global Warming Policy Foundation, hosted the shale gas lobby along with MPs and journalists in the Houses of Parliament. The event took place as the government committed to phasing out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year.

Fracking is potentially polluting, disruptive and dangerous to communities and many experts say it would take up to a decade to reap any benefits, and the amount of gas would not make a dent in the global price. Where fracking has been trialled, there has been major local opposition and anger due to earthquakes.

But the UK Onshore Oil and Gas lobby group described opposition to fracking as “illogical”, and Baker said: “As preparations are made for cement trucks to fill in the UK’s last functioning shale gas wells, it is obscene that Russia’s war crimes are being funded by Europe’s addiction to their gas.

“Under the government’s plans, we will need vast quantities of gas even as renewables are ramped up.”

Senior Conservatives close to the prime minister said elements within the Tory party were lobbying for a change of stance on fracking, but said they believed they would be unsuccessful.

One of them, the donor and investor Ben Goldsmith, said: “I don’t see [a change of mind from the prime minister] at all. I think the government recognises the public’s insistence on restoring the terribly depleted natural fabric of our country, and on tackling the growing climate crisis with the urgency it deserves.”

Even MPs in Baker’s Net Zero Scrutiny Group have reservations about fracking in their constituencies. The Blackpool MP Scott Benton, who has previously mocked the Cop26 climate summit, has said he would be reticent to allow fracking in his constituency due to the earthquakes it has caused in the past.

Kwarteng’s comments have prompted urgent renewed discussions between Cuadrilla, which owns the UK’s only two shale gas wells, and the Oil and Gas Authority, with the oil and gas giant demanding a decision is made within 48 hours. Plans are in place to begin plugging the wells within days, given the authority’s deadline 30 June.

Miliband’s plan, released on Wednesday, said the government needed to redouble its efforts on renewables including solar and wind, and energy efficiency including insulation, as well as new nuclear. Labour is opposed to new fracking, warning of a “dangerous lurch” towards the banned method.