Oil & Gas operator tries to force National Trust’s hand.
Potential shale gas operator, INEOS, is trying to force the National Trust to grant it access to a country estate to carry out seismic testing.
INEOS accused the trust of adopting “overly and overtly political” opposition to fracking and said it would seek to exercise its legal rights to enter the trust’s Clumber Park estate in Nottinghamshire without permission.
INEOS, run by the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, said the trust was being unreasonable in refusing to allow an assessment of what was a national resource that would reduce the UK’s dependence on imported gas.
For the government’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) to grant the application to conduct seismic surveys in Clumber Park it would need to agree:-
a) that the trust was being unreasonable and
b) b) that there was a national interest in allowing testing.
If it did grant it, INEOS said it would seek a court order under the Mines (Working Facilities & Support) 1966 granting it access.
Ron Coyle, chief executive of INEOS Shale said: “It is estimated that the [shale gas] industry will create tens of thousands of well-
Lynn Calder, INEOS’s commercial director, said the company would refuse to give the National Trust a share because it was being obstructive. She added that more than nine out of ten other landowners had granted INEOS access in return for an undisclosed fee. She also pointed out that the trust was being hypocritical because it was a major user of fossil fuel in its properties.
Any seisimic survey results obtained would be submitted to a national archive and they could be useful for other purposes such as assessing the potential for geothermal energy.
December 2017
Cuadrilla makes sizeable gas discovery at Bowland site in West Lancashire.
Oil and gas operator, Cuadrilla, has reported signs of a “sizeable quantity of natural gas” at one of its shale exploration sites in Lancashire.
Cuadrilla announced the results shortly before the Court of Appeal dismissed claims by anti-
The company said that tests from a well were “very encouraging”, contradicting claims made by some scientists that Britain’s shale layers were unsuitable for production.
Cuadrilla said that the results were in line with estimates in 2013 by the British Geological Survey for the Bowland Shale under northern England.
Today they expect to start drilling Britain’s first exploratory horizontal shale well and they have permission to drill up to four at the site. The company’s tests suggest that each well could extract enough gas to meet the needs of 5,000 homes for 30 years.
The government has yet to give final consent for any fracking but ministers have repeatedly said that they support the development of a shale gas industry.
Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said : “We are confident that there is a very sizeable quantity of natural gas in the Bowland shale.”
The Court of Appeal ruling came after a defeat at the High Court last year for the Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman, a campaigner. They challenged the government’s decision to overrule Lancashire county council, which had rejected Cuadrilla’s application for the site. Third Energy is awaiting government consent to start fracking a well at Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire.
March 2018
INEOS contact York council about surveying PEDL 283.
INEOS holds PEDLs (Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences) for large parts of York and the surrounding area and company bosses have told York council that they want to use seismic images and drill wells to check the local geology.
In particular the company is looking at PEDL 283 – which covers the north of Strensall and much of the Howardian Hills – and could be applying for permission to start surveys in August this year.
INEOS company director Tom Pickering said that the company had started tentative enquiries with landowners in its Yorkshire licence areas.
York city councillor Nick Waller commented : “ There is now greater awareness of the options for fracking in Yorkshire following applications in other parts of the country and with the work by a different company at Kirby Misperton”.
“There are ongoing hearings about the Minerals and Waste Plan, which will set down policies for fracking in York and North Yorkshire”,he added.
A spokesman for INEOS said it was in the surveying stages of work towards a flourishing shale industry in the UK.
He added : “ Shale, if successful, can bring competitively-
March 2018
Third Energy start de-
Third Energy, a small oil and gas operator with interests on the North Yorkshire Moors had been expected to complete well tests on their KM8 well before Christmas 2017 – but in January the company decided to let contractors remove some equipment after Greg Clark, the business secretary, ordered an assessment of the company’s “financial resilience”.
Campaigners from the Kirby Misperton Protection Camp said the company had now removed its main rig. A message on the camp’s Facebook page said convoys of fracking equipment had been leaving the site. “It’s clear that Third Energy are not going to be fracking anytime soon.”
However Third Energy said : “We are working with the government on the final step of the regulatory process…. For our hydraulic fracture stimulation programme near Kirby Misperton.”
The ever changing face of oil and gas.
