About 4.4 billion barrels-worth of shale oil have been found in the ground beneath the south of England, according to a report published Friday by the British Geological Survey (BGS).

The study, commissioned by the Department for Energy and Climate Change and released this morning, says the huge oil reserves lie under the Weald Basin in Kent and parts of Sussex and Surrey.

How much of this is recoverable is not yet known — further drilling and testing of new wells will be needed to establish this, but the discovery is set to spark a new stage in the battle between environmentalists and energy firms over the controversial topic of fracking.

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