The European Union has removed two Iranian oil companies from its sanctions list, the first such action since Iran reached a nuclear agreement with world powers earlier this month
On Monday, the council of Lancashire, located in northwestern England, rejected the British fracking company Cuadrilla's plans to develop a new fracking site in Little Plumpton.
Independent oil and gas producer Third Energy has lodged an application for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at a shale gas site in northeast England, the third such application being assessed by British authorities.
Anti-fracking campaigners have accused the shale industry of wanting companies "to be allowed to mark their own homework" by suggesting independent checks on wells could be done in-house.