Monthly Archives: February 2016

“Only the best and most inventive of public speakers would be able to link the late David Bowie and fracking, the controversial technique of injecting water, sand and chemicals deep underground to fracture the rock (shale) and release gas or oil.

“But that is what former diplomat and independent activist John Ashton managed to do when he spoke at the latest meeting in Oxted of the new action group Surrey Against Fracking.”

So begins a write-up of our meeting by Kevin Black in the County Border News.

Read the full article here

‘Flow testing’ has started at the Horse Hill oil site, nicknamed the ‘Gatwick gusher’.

The operator, Horse Hill Developments Ltd (HHDL), is testing the potential flow of oil from three layers: the Portland Sandstone, Upper Kimmeridge Limestone and Lower Kimmeridge Limestone, using the well they drilled in late 2014.

The process involves perforating the well at each layer to test whether oil flows. If it doesn’t flow, or if the flow is weak, they will use a range of methods to encourage fluids to flow up the wellbore – including using acids, injecting diesel into the rock, and ‘swabbing’ to reduce the pressure in the wellbore.

Section 1 of this document gives more details of the processes involved.

The testing will lead to a range of fluids being extracted, including unspent hydrochloric acid, brine, diesel and water as well as the crude oil they are looking for. The Environment Agency Permit includes details of how all these materials are to be disposed of.

The company anticipates flow testing will take about 30 days. Read the rest of this entry >>