Facts remain the same after ‘Frack Master’ advertisement banned

Phil Black - PII Editor 04/09/2014

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Breitling Energy Corporation (OTCBB: BECC) is in the social media spotlight today following a ruling by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upholding six contentious points included in an advertisement published in The SundayTelegraph earlier this year.

In the advertisement, published in February, Breitling outlined various reasons why the company felt the UK would benefit from considering fracking British shale for natural gas.

“My intention in placing my open letter as an advertisement was to provide my insight and knowledge about hydraulic fracking based on the not insignificant experience in the United States, and relating this experience to the situation in the United Kingdom,” said Chris Faulkner, Breitling’s Chairman and CEO. “I also wanted to bring some balance to the debate on hydraulic fracking in the UK, a debate which has been dominated for many months by the sometimes outrageous claims made by opponents of the fracking process, claims which have not been subjected to any scrutiny whatsoever.”

Chris Faulkner added: “The ASA needed to keep in mind that there is little or no evidence about fracking in the UK as the process has not yet been started, but it has been going on at scale in the US for a number of years and so the ASA should have placed far more weight to the numerous US sources and substantiation provided.”

Breitling contends that the claims in the letter were properly phrased and that had adequate substantiation for them, much of which the ASA ignored.

“This is all about objectivity, and the ASA has been both judge and jury in this case,” Faulkner continued. “They appear to have become unqualified experts in fracking and interpreting the complex issues surrounding fracking in the UK, and have provided rulings which reflects its own political views rather than an objective assessment of the evidence before them.”