Frack Free Surrey

Horse Hill, near Horley, could be the UK’s second largest onshore oil site.

A company called Horse Hill Developments Ltd is testing oil flows and has applied for planning permission for five new wells, one to dispose of contaminated waste water.

They say they could produce more than 500 tonnes of oil a day. For 25 years. 

Surrey County Council’s Planning Committee is due to decide on permission on 11 September.

If you think turning Horse Hill into an oilfield is a bad idea, you can post your objection on the Council website, or email mwcd@surreycc.gov.uk Make sure to include the reference number SCC 2018/0152 and your name and address

View the plans and have your say here: https://planning.surreycc.gov.uk/planappdisp.aspx?AppNo=SCC+Ref+2018%2f0152

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Thank you to Brockham Oil Watch for this update

Angus Energy is involved in discussions about selling their 65% interest in the Brockham license to an unnamed third party, saying “it is extremely unlikely that commercial hydrocarbon flow can be established from the Kimmeridge layer at Brockham”.

The news slashed Angus’s share price by 60% in a single day. It came as a huge surprise to campaigners and to the investor community, who were expecting Angus to continue with well tests, as they had announced they would just two weeks previously.

Angus also clarified that the Kimmeridge would not flow “on any conventional approach” and that they ruled out the use of stimulation techniques including hydraulic fracturing, in effect confirming what campaigners have been saying all along – that it will not be possible to commercially produce from the Kimmeridge without hydraulic fracturing or acid stimulation.

There remains a strong possibility that Angus will sell their interest in Brockham to a company who is willing to frack (or use other unconventional methods).

Congratulations to Brockham Oil Watch and all those who have been keeping a watchful eye on the actions of Angus Energy at Brockham, and helping to maintain pressure on the regulators to make sure the site is monitored closely.

Read more on Drill or Drop

Horse Hill Developments Ltd have submitted additional material from UKOG to support their planning application for five new wells (one for water reinjection) and 25 years of production at Horse Hill. Surrey County Council has invited all those who have already responded to the planning application to write in on the new information.

And since the application was submitted, there has been an important change in national policy on climate change.

Please write in giving your views on the new information.  And if you haven’t written before, it’s not too late to do so. The deadline for comments is Monday 24 June.

The estimated date for the application to go to the planning committee has been put back once again, and is now 11 September 2019.

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Press release from Brockham Oil Watch

Over 150 people, including a number of local councillors, attended a public meeting on earthquakes and unconventional drilling in the Weald Basin on Saturday 18 May at Beare Green Village Hall.

The gathering was organised by community group Brockham Oil Watch and chaired by Max Rosenberg, Chairman of the Mole Valley branch of the  Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

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[Update supplied by Brockham Oil Watch]

There has been a major upheaval at the helm at Angus Energy plc.

Paul Vonk was ousted as Managing Director at the end of January and replaced by hereditary peer Lord Lucan; and Cameron Buchanan has stepped down as interim Chair to be replaced by Lord Clanwilliam, another Eton-educated peer.

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The decision on massive expansion of the Horse Hill site, and 20 years of oil production, has been postponed, in part because of the huge volume of objections – more than 1,000 objections have been submitted. Read more

Surrey County Council’s Planning Committee was due to decide on UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG)’s application for four new oil wells plus and one water reinjection well at its meeting in April, but that now won’t happen. The next meeting is on 22 May, but it’s not certain the Planners will be able to scrutinise the application and all the objections by then.

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UKOG has revealed details of its proposed new drilling site in Dunsfold, near Guildford. Within days, the local community had organised a well-attended public meeting to discuss the plans, and pledged to resist them.

Keith Taylor, the Green MEP, sent comments on Surrey County Council’s decision not to ask for an Environmental Impact Assessment. Please feel free to use any of these ideas in the campaign as it rolls out.

Read about the plans on Drill or Drop

Keith Taylor, the Green MEP who retires in 2019, has been a strong supporter of anti-oil-and-gas-drilling schemes across the South East. Keith has written expert submissions to planning applications and other consultations, hosted meetings and film screenings to help residents get informed about what’s happening in their area, and provided unfailing moral and intellectual support to campaigners across the region.

On the eve of his retirement, Keith published two reports which will prove useful resources for campaigners and others.

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Press release from the Weald Action Group

As an earthquake rocked the Charlwood area this morning [1], scientists from Edinburgh University have made a submission to Surrey County Council [2] which points the finger at the Horse Hill oil site for 13 quakes in Surrey in 2018.

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Surrey residents and campaigners at the Horse Hill drill site. Photo: James Knapp, Weald Action Group

Surrey residents gathered next to the Horse Hill oil drilling site today to protest against the impacts of extending drilling for 25 years.

Wearing air pollution masks, they called on Surrey County Council to turn down unpopular plans by Horse Hill Developments Ltd to move into a 20-year production phase using seven wells on an expanded site. This would make Horse Hill – in rural Surrey near Hookwood – into the UK’s second largest onshore production oilfield.

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