U.S. oil and gas services company Halliburton may play a role in the British shale sector, though environmental advocates are concerned by legacy issues.

In November, British company Third Energy said the shale reserves at a license area in North Yorkshire may be "significant." A spokesman for the company told the Guardian newspaper the company was in talks with Halliburton on possible development.

"At this stage no contracts have been awarded but Halliburton is one of the companies with whom we are in discussion," the spokesman said in comments published Tuesday.

The shale natural gas sector in the country is in its infancy. The British Geological Survey in 2013 estimated shale basins in the country may hold more than 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, a level the government said could help an economy with natural gas imports on pace to increase from 45 percent of demand in 2011 to 76 percent by 2030.

Environmental advocates expressed concern about bringing Halliburton into the fledgling shale sector because of its ties to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The company, which provided the cement used to cap the Macondo well that failed and led to the spill, announced it reached a $1.1 billion settlement last year.

"This is not the type of company that should be allowed to perform a test frack here," Chris Redston, a campaigner with Frack Free Ryedale, was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

Halliburton last year acquired rival oil services group Baker Hughes, which in October agreed to disclose the chemicals used in fracking, known formally as hydraulic fracturing. The October decision is at odds with Halliburton and rival Schlumberger, which argue their chemical components should be protected as trade secrets.