Campaigners have reacted with fury as Liz Truss allows fracking today - despite her own Chancellor saying it won't solve the crisis.
The Tory leader is expected to axe a 2019 ban on the fossil fuel extraction process as part of a wider energy bills strategy, announced at 11.30am.
The Telegraph reported the change could be made quickly with a written statement to Parliament and the first permission requests for drilling could come within weeks.
She is also expected to green-light a wave of oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
The manifesto-busting move enraged green groups, with Friends of the Earth saying it is "disruptive, unpopular and will do little to boost energy security or bring down bills".
Critics questioned whether the policy will actually make much difference, since locals could block fracking wells in their area. Leveling-Up Secretary Simon Clarke confirmed: "Consent will lie at the heart of our energy policy - community consent."
And Ms Truss's own Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, said only six months ago that fracking was not the answer to the energy crisis.
He wrote in the Mail on Sunday in March: "Those calling for its return misunderstand the situation we find ourselves in." He added: "Even if we lifted the fracking moratorium tomorrow, it would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes.
"And it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside."
Mr Kwarteng went on: "Second, no amount of shale gas from hundreds of wells dotted across rural England would be enough to lower the European price any time soon.
"And with the best will in the world, private companies are not going to sell the shale gas they produce to UK consumers below the market price. They are not charities, after all."
Fracking involves extracting gas from rocks and breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure.
A ban was imposed in 2019 after experts said it was not possible to accurately model earthquakes linked to the process.
The Tory manifesto in 2019 pledged: “We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”
But in her leadership campaign, Liz Truss said "I support exploring fracking in parts of the United Kingdom where that can be done".
And fracking firm Cuadrilla was allowed to delay plugging two wells in Lancashire earlier this year.
Levelling-Up Secretary Simon Clarke confirmed we "ought to" look at fracking, with "sensitivity" to communities. The wording of Ms Truss's pledge suggests areas that oppose fracking could still block it.
There was speculation that the Tories could claim they have not broken their manifesto because the science has changed.
But Friends of the Earth campaigner Danny Gross said: “Fracking is disruptive, unpopular and will do little to boost energy security or bring down bills. Fossil fuels are at the root of so many of the problems we currently face.”
Backing fracking would also put Ms Truss on an early collision course with her predecessor.
Speaking at Sizewell B Power Station just last week, Boris Johnson said: "I just have to say I'm slightly dubious that it will prove to be a panacea.
"I would much rather that we focused on the things where we are brilliant and where the environmental damage is really minimal, like offshore wind."
