British fracking company Cuadrilla said a notice ordering it to plug and abandon two shale gas wells had been lifted, giving it until mid-2023 to evaluate whether it could extract gas safely and provide an alternative energy supply.

Announcing the regulator's decision to lift the ban just days before the British government is expected to set out a new energy supply strategy, Cuadrilla said it would temporarily plug the wells in northwest England and consider its options.

Britain imposed a moratorium on fracking in 2019.

The process, which involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure, is fiercely opposed by environmentalists who say it is at odds with Britain's commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Cuadrilla says its two wells are the only horizontal wells drilled and hydraulically fractured into UK shale rock. While a natural gas resource was found, earth tremors meant that neither well could be fully flow-tested, the company said.

In 2018 it had to halt fracking at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire several times due to minor seismic events.

"The North Sea Transition Authority has looked carefully at this application, alongside recent developments, and agreed to withdraw the requirement to decommission the wells by the end of June," the regulator said in a separate statement.

"Cuadrilla now have until the end of June next year to evaluate options for the Preston New Road and Elswick sites. If no credible re-use plans are in place by then, the North Sea Transition Authority expects to reimpose decommissioning requirements."

The British government has said it will publish a new energy strategy that would bolster its domestic supplies in an effort to shield the country from surging prices although it will take several years to secure any new sources.

"I am delighted that the regulator has taken the sensible decision not to abandon the UK's only two viable shale gas wells at this time of soaring gas prices," Cuadrilla boss Francis Egan said.

"The government should now urgently reverse its decision to impose a Moratorium on shale gas," the company said.

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