Britain's energy minister Michael Fallon has announced a new “road-map” to show the way forward for shale gas exploration and development in the UK.

Today the Minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change has published details of the way in which a new regulatory regime will be planned to control shale gas exploration and development.

With the promise that shale gas extraction could see large scale production within seven years and provide up to £1 billion for local communities and many new jobs where it takes place– the government is also issuing a Strategic Environmental Assessment for shale gas areas.

Today's publications indicate how permits and permissions will be used to regulate the growing industry, before drilling is allowed to take place.

“The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report, produced by Amec sets out the potential economic and environmental effects of further oil and gas activity in Great Britain, including shale oil and gas production, comparing a ‘low activity’ and ‘high activity’ scenario,” the government says. “The assessment was carried out in preparation for the launch of the next round of licenses being made available for onshore oil and gas exploration and production.”

With a high activity level, Amec's SEA report assumes a “substantial” amount of shale gas can be produced in the next decade, perhaps as much as 4.32 to 8.64 trillion cubic feet – which is three times current UK gas demand, the government points out.

This could have major implications for UK gas imports – from countries such as Norway for example, once existing supply contracts expire.

“Under this scenario, there would be beneficial impacts to the economy, jobs and communities. Employment in the oil and gas industry could be increased by 7 per cent, with 16,000 – 32,000 full-time jobs created,” DECC says.

Announcing the moves today Fallon – who used Twitter social media to highlight it – said: “Today marks the next step in unlocking the potential of shale gas in our energy mix.”

He continued: “It is an exciting prospect, which could bring growth, jobs and energy security.” But he cautioned: “We must develop shale responsibly, both for local communities and for the environment, with robust regulation in place.”

Amec's SEA suggests up to 0.12 to 0.24 trillion cubic metres (4.32 to 8.6t tcf) of gas – more than six times the 0.037 trillion cubic metres (1.31 tcf) of gas produced in the UK in 2012 or more than twice the 0.1 trillion cubic metres (3.52 tcf) consumed in the UK each year.

Amec's SEA report also says “flowback” of wastewater – the fracturing fluid injected into shale rock during hydraulic fracturing could be between 3,000 and 18,750 cubic metres per well. “Under the high activity scenario, this could mean that up to 108 million cubic metres of wastewater would require treatment,” Amec says. “Depending on where the wastewater is treated, the additional volume could place a significant burden on existing wastewater treatment infrastructure capacity, and require further or now investment. However, if on-site treatment and recycling could occur, wastewater volumes (and associated vehicle movements could be reduced.”.