The 2016 report, undertaken for the Cabinet Office, was not released despite revealing that less than 4pc of the shale gas wells predicted in public reports would be likely to emerge by 2025. The report estimates that only 155 shale wells are likely in the UK.

Only two years earlier reports predicted that the shale industry would drill 400 wells every year at its peak, reaching 4,000 wells by 2032.

The figures appeared in a major report from EY, which built on earlier estimates from the Institute of Directors. It was used by government and frackers to convince the public that a shale revolution could spur £33bn of investment and create over 64,000 jobs.