The UK is on the verge of a new era of onshore drilling with the biggest expansion in oil and gas output since the 1970s heyday of the North Sea, according to a trade group.

With the Government about to open a new department devoted to unconventional gas catering for the rise of shale gas and coal bed methane, the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG) expects onshore projects to be of “increased importance” to the nation’s economy.

The trade group points to the fact the UK already has Western Europe’s biggest onshore oil and gas field in Wytch Farm in Dorset. It has today appointed its first chief executive in anticipation of the extra activity.

Ken Cronin, new head of UKOOG said: “This is a critical time for the future development of the onshore oil and gas industry in the UK with production set to grow significantly for the first time since the North Sea oil boom of the 1970s. The industry has come together to ensure that the most stringent standards are in place for safety, environmental management, exploration and production.”

The former communications adviser who has worked with IGas, Gazprom and British Energy said he thought the industry would create “jobs, skills… and energy that will help British business and households while at the same time working in partnership with the communities it operates in.”

More than 50 different firms hold licences to explore for oil and gas in the UK, the UKOOG added.

A fire which spread to at least five terraced houses in Cornwall is thought to have been caused by a domestic heating oil tank. At least 100 firefighters from the Cornish Fire and Rescue Service tackled the blaze which began on Sunday evening at Well Lane in Constantine, near Falmouth. All residents were accounted for. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The impending threat of a fuel strike was lessened yesterday when the union and the oil firms agreed to meet for ‘conciliation’ talks.

The union Unite is behind strike threats from fuel tanker drivers over alleged pension and pay cuts. The news comes as strike mediator Acas was brought in by the Government to smooth out the disagreement.

An Acas spokesperson said: “We have now held briefings with all the relevant parties and can confirm that substantive conciliation talks will take place on Wednesday 4 April.”

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey welcomed the talks but said success would only come with “an immediate end to mischievous briefing against the drivers”.

The Energy Secretary is meeting with haulier bosses later today to discuss possible strike action from fuel tanker drivers.

The Government has come under fire this week for sending mixed messages about how the public should prepare for the fuel strike, with a Cabinet Minister apologising for initially advising the public to fill up their tanks and keep a “jerry can” of fuel in their garage – something the fire authorities claim could be dangerous.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said today he hopes to put together “detailed and robust contingency plans” in case members of the union Unite decide to go ahead with the strike after voting for it on Monday.

Prime Minister David Cameron will chair a ministerial meeting this afternoon to discuss contingency plans in the event of a fuel strike.

It comes as more than 1,000 tanker drivers at the union Unite voted for strike action on Monday, threatening the fuel supply to forecourts and private business depots around the country.

The Government is at pains to avoid scenes of chaos seen at the fuel blockade in 2000. Downing Street is advising people to “be prudent and plan” but denied it was promoting “panic-buying”.

Earlier this week Energy Secretary Ed Davey – who will be at the meeting – wrote to Unite’s Assisant General Secretary Diana Holland to ask the union to come to the negotiating table.

He has said: “While it isn’t the Government’s role to intervene in [industrial] disputes we take health and safety very seriously.”

The independent mediator ACAS has also been asked to step into the dispute.

The Freight Transport Association has raised concern some of its larger customers will have major problems with fuel supply.

DECC played down the potential problems, saying there is no date for a strike as yet, adding the union must give seven days’ notice for any action.

A spokesman said: “Any big organisation will have given thought to its contingency arrangements… There’s nothing generic we can advise, as every organisation is different.”

A road safety group has dismissed the safety concerns of the union Unite as reason for strike action, while others in the industry claim they are “nonsense”.

The union Unite today asked its members whether they want to take industrial action in protest over employers “slashing drivers’ terms and conditions and cutting corners on training and safety in a bid to win contracts.”Five out of seven firms who are members of the union voted in favour of the strike.

But the union’s safety concerns were strongly disputed by Road Safe, a campaign group for road safety which works with motor and transport firms in Britain and is a ‘partner’ of the Department for Transport.

A spokesperson for Road Safe told ELN: “I’d be very interested to see the evidence of that. We’ve seen none. Tanker drivers are the best paid, best trained and looked after by their companies without doubt. I don’t see there’s asafety issue.”

The views were echoed by Suckling Transport, one of two firms whose members voted against the strike action.

Peter Larner, Managing Director of Sucking Transport said the safety issue raised by the union was “nonsense” for his firm, which last year won an international award for road safety.

He told ELN his employees had been “surprised” when Unite balloted them about strike action over their terms and conditions, because they had only just agreed with the union about these for 2012.

His firm is a small SME in a sector dominated by large distributors, he said, employing 126 drivers. Only 10 of these voted in favour of the strike.

Mr Larner said: “It’s a positive message to the union that we’re not interested in this dispute.”

The Freight Transport Association is criticising plans for a tanker strike, warning of the negative effect it could have on the growth of the UK’s economy.

The union Unite today asked its members to vote on whether to take industrial action over pay cuts and unfair changes to terms of employment. This afternoon workers voted in favour of the strike action.

James Hookham, Managing Director for Policy at the haulage trade body told ELN earlier today: “Fuel is the lifeblood of the economy. This is the last thing we need right now on top of all the pressure businesses face.”

He claimed it would be a “huge distraction” for businesses “to try and find fuel” if a strike happens, at a time when there are a few signs the economy could be getting back on its feet after the Chancellor’s Budget last week.

“Threats to fuel supply” could badly hit the utilities, oil and gas sectors if a strike took place, suggested Mr Hookham: “Think of the jobs those sectors do: from repairing and monitoring power outages, to monitoring infrastructure and telecoms – these all require a transport fleet.”

However he added a “big lesson” had been learnt from the fuel blockade in September 2000, hailing the Government’s contingency plans to train army personnel as “very good news”.

Many of the FTA’s members are businesses which refuel from commercial bunkers, rather than public forecourts or supermarkets, so it hopes the government has taken this into account too, said Mr Hookham.

Suggestions the strike could hit over the Easter weekend were probably “premature”, he added, given the union needs to give at least seven days’ notice of industrial action, as well as the possibility they may come back to the negotiating table even after the ballot goes in favour of strike action.

Tanker drivers from Britain’s largest union today voted in favour of strike action in protest over safety concerns and “growing” job insecurity in the fuel industry.

Members of Unite working for five major fuel distribution firms delivering fuel for household names, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, BP, Shell and Esso backed industrial action by an average of 69%.

Drivers at two other distribution companies voted against strike action.

Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary for Unite, which represents the 2,000 members involved in the action, said: “These votes send a clear message throughout the industry and should prompt all the major companies to get around the table to establish minimum standards.

“This is not about pay – this is about ensuring that high safety and training standards are maintained, so that our communities are safe. It is about a simple measure, the creation of an industry-wide bargaining forum.”

She criticised oil giants for “raking in profits while shirking their responsibility for the stable supply of a national commodity”.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change rebuked the union for proposing a strike, saying it was the “wrong action at the wrong time”.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “The Unite ballot result is disappointing. The Government is strongly of the view that strike action is wrong and unnecessary.”

Mr Davey criticised the union for “unacceptable and selfish” behaviour, warning a strike could “jeopardise our international reputation” in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics.

He added: “The union should be getting round the negotiating table, not planning to disrupt the lives of millions of people across Britain.”

Over the weekend, the Government began training army personnel to drive fuel tankers as part of a contingency plan for the strike action.

British oil giant Shell would not comment. BP said it was “disappointed” by the move, since it and several fuel distributors are still in “on-going discussions” with Unite about an industry- wide bargaining forum.

Oil industry workers aren’t convinced mature North Sea oil and gas fields are being squeezed for their full potential, according to a new report.

The figures come as last week Chancellor George Osborne announced North Sea fields will get incentives to decommission mature fields.

Out of more than 50 mature fields professionals surveyed by Oil and Gas iQ in February, more than two-thirds (70.8%) don’t think mature fields, which have usually undergone years or decades of drilling and production, are realising their full potential.

This is despite a majority thinking mature fields will be more profitable, with almost 60% saying they expect them to bring in greater returns than new field developments over the next decade.

In the Mature Fields 2012 report, the surveyed workers suggest a number of things can be done to boost the recovery of oil and gas, from better well and reservoir management to less regulation and red tape.

Oil tanker drivers are threatening strike action, according to the union Unite.

Britain’s largest union is holding a ballot today to determine whether its 2,000 tanker driver members will begin industrial action over what it says are unfair employment terms. The ballot closes this afternoon.

Unite claims “behind the scenes, the major employers have been slashing drivers’ terms and conditions and cutting corners on training and safety in a bid to win contracts.”

The union is calling for national minimum standards on pensions, training, health and safety and pay.

The Government is reportedly training the army to take over duties if the strike takes place.