The business secretary has rejected local referendums as a measure of public consent for fracking.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (right) at Conservative Party Conference Fringe event with Chris Hope Photo: Telegraph
Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested that shale gas companies could instead canvass door-to-door for support. Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative conference, he said: “I don’t think local referendums are necessarily the
Weald-based UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) announced this morning it has raised £3m to spend in Turkey.
The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey.
The funds were raised in a placing of more than 3 billion new shares. UKOG said in a statement the money would funds further seismic testing and a new appraisal well in the Resan licence in Turkey. The well was expected to produce oil in the first half of next year, UKOG said. This is the most recent of a series of placings to raise money for operations in Turkey. UKOG raised £1.5m in July 2022 and a further £5m in July 2021. The company said today:
“The placing has been undertaken to provide the Company with a source of general working capital and to help deliver the Company’s previously stated near term goals of completing the Phase 2 Turkey seismic programme and the subsequent drilling of a new appraisal well in the Basur oil discovery, anticipated to be able to add near-term oil production to the Company in H1 2023.”
The shares were issued at 0.0875p, a 20% discount on the previous closing price. UKOG’s share price at the time of writing was down more than 18% at 0.09p. Following the placing, total voting rights in UKOG now stand at more than 21 billion (21,096,376,104).
New finance officer
UKOG also announced it appointed a new chief finance officer. Guzyal Mukhametzhanova replaces Matt Gormley, who is leaving the company. Ms Mukhametzhanova has worked for KPMG’s energy and natural resources practice and JKX Oil and Gas Limited, where she was group financial controller and finance director. Her role at UKOG is a non-board position, the company said.
Fracking opponents have warned of a “huge backlash” if the government agrees to industry demands for new rules to make shale gas production quicker and easier.
Frack Free Lancashire, which opposed Cuadrilla’s operations in the county, said this evening the industry could not operate within the current regulations and now needed to “rewrite the rules”.
It also accused shale gas companies of “disrespecting” local communities and “disregarding” the environment.
The government announced last Thursday that it was lifting the moratorium on fracking in England, that has been in place since 2019.
Now the industry is repeating previous calls for ministers to go further and relax the regulations controlling fracking-induced earthquakes and change the planning system for shale gas.
Charles McAllister,
A network of anti-fracking groups is urging supporters to prepare for a government U-turn on the moratorium in England.
Frack Free United urged its supporters to remain vigilant with the imminent submission of a report on the science of fracking, due by Thursday (30 June 2022).
The energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, who commissioned the report, said in a recent speech he would “consider the next steps”.
A moratorium on fracking in England has been in force since November 2019. This was introduced after fracking by Cuadrilla at its Preston New Road site in Lancashire caused a series of small earthquakes, one felt across the region.
In a newsletter, Frack Free United warned:
The Environment Agency is seeking public comments on its proposal to allow Angus Energy to dispose of waste water underground at the Brockham oil site in Surrey.
Angus Energy site at Brockham, Surrey, on 16 December 2018. Photo: Brockham Protectors
Despite local concerns, the EA said it was minded to permit water re-injection at Brockham.
In a draft decision document, the EA said it was satisfied that risks had been identified and that operating procedures were “sufficient to mitigate the risk to groundwater”. There was no need for groundwater monitoring, it said.
A public consultation opens on Wednesday 29 December 2021 and runs until Monday 31 January 2021. Comments can be made online or by email
Details
Waste water, also known as produced or formation water, often comes to the surface during oil and gas extraction.
It is usually very salty and may be radioactive. Companies seek to re-inject it back underground to avoid expensive water treatment and to support the pressure in the hydrocarbon reservoir, improving hydrocarbon flows.
Angus Energy has previously said it would give up the Brockham site if it could not re-inject waste water.
Rathlin Energy breached planning permission at its West Newton-A site in East Yorkshire, a council official confirmed today.
But the official said it would not be “proportionate or sustainable” to insist Rathlin returned the site to farmland, as required by the permission.
A local residents’ group, which raised the issue with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said today it was seeking legal advice.
Rathlin Energy’s West Newton-A site, November 2021. Photo: Used with the owner’s consent
DrillOrDrop reported last week that planning permission at West Newton-A, granted in 2018, lapsed on Friday 19 November 2021.
Our article said Rathlin Energy had not complied with a condition to remove all equipment, plug and abandon the wells and restore the site by the deadline.
Neither the company nor East Riding of Yorkshire Council responded to our questions.
But DrillOrDrop has seen correspondence, sent today by a council officer to a resident, confirming that Rathlin has not complied with the first condition of the planning permission requiring site clearance and restoration.
The official said:
New research, published within days of the start of Cop26 climate talks, reveals that 40 oil, gas and coal projects have been submitted for approval in the UK.
Horse Hill oil site in Surrey. Photo: HHDL
If they got the go-ahead, the study estimated these projects alone would amount to almost three years of UK greenhouse gas emissions.
The schemes comprise seven onshore oil and gas developments, including oil production at Horse Hill in Surrey and at Biscathorpe in Lincolnshire, where a decision is due as world leaders gather for COP26.
There are also 30 offshore projects, including the Cambo oil field off Shetland, and three coal mines, including Woodhouse Colliery in Cumbria, the UK’s first in 30 years.
The analysis, published this morning in the report, Tip of the iceberg: The future of fossil extraction, estimated that the 40 developments were projected to emit the equivalent of 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. This would be the equivalent of nearly triple the UK’s annual emissions, the report said.
Fossil fuel production planned by national governments “vastly exceeds” the limit needed to keep global temperatures at safe levels, the United Nations said today.
Egdon Resources’ oil production site at Wressle, North Lincolnshire. Photo: Union Jack Oil
Despite greater climate ambitions and net-zero commitments, oil and gas production is expected to rise sharply and planned cuts to coal extraction are just modest.
A report for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says countries have predicted they will produce more than double the fossil fuels (110%) in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C.
The 2021 Production Gap Report looks at the discrepancy between governments’ planned production of oil, gas and coal, and the global fossil fuel production levels needed to limit warming to 1.5C and 2C.
Since the first report in 2019, the gap is largely unchanged. Total fossil fuel production is expected to increase to at least 2040, creating an ever-widening production gap, it said.
Today’s report, produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), said governments’ production plans and projections would lead to about 240% more coal, 57% more oil, and 71% more gas in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Ploy Achakulwisut, a lead author on the report and scientist at SEI, said:
The Wreckers Portal 2021
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.” Utah Phillips
Capitalism is burning up our planet, devastating ecosystems and communities in its ceaseless hunger for profit. Everything is for sale, and the one great goal is growth: producing and consuming ever more stuff, even as it kills us. This engine of mass destruction is driven by burning forests: the long-dead forests of fossil fuels, and the living forests of today. Though we all play our parts in the consumer system, some people play much bigger parts than others. The people killing the earth are those directing the machine – and crushing any resistance to it.
Our Wreckers of the Earth project has two aims:
London: a global hub of ecocidal capitalism
London is home to fossil fuel giants and to many of the worst mining polluters. It is the world’s second-largest financial centre (after New York). It is the key financial marketplace for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and for trading oil, metals, minerals and other “commodities” sucked out of the earth. Lax regulation and tight security make London a money-laundering haven for the world’s tyrants, oligarchs, and billionaires. The legacy of the British empire still lives in the infrastructure and services London offers: insurance markets, law firms, arms dealers, PR agencies, down to prestige shopping and investment property.
NB: all the information here was updated and checked in September 2021.
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Cutting methane emissions from oil and gas sites is vital to limiting global warming to 1.5C, the International Energy Agency said today.
In its annual World Energy Outlook, the IEA said this measure could close 15% of the gap between what was needed to limit temperature rise and today’s pledges by world governments.
The flagship report – designed as a guidebook for world leaders at next month’s climate talks in Glasgow – said there would need to be cuts in 2030 of almost 90 million tonnes of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations to keep the world on track for net zero by 2050.
“Rapid reductions in methane emissions are a key tool to limit near-term global warming, and the most cost-effective abatement opportunities are in the energy sector, particularly in oil and gas operations.
“Methane abatement is not addressed quickly or effectively enough by simply reducing fossil fuel use; concerted efforts from governments and industry are vital to secure the emissions cuts that close nearly 15% of the gap to the NZE [Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario].”
Today’s report also said the use of oil would have to fall sharply to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
For the first time in a World Energy Outlook, the IEA predicted an eventual decline in oil demand. If all today’s announced climate pledges were met, the world would still be consuming 75 million oil barrels per day by 2050 – down from around 100 million today. But to meet net zero emissions by 2050, the use of oil would need to plummet to 25 million.
The IEA said there had been “a large rebound” in oil and coal use in 2021. Largely for this reason, 2021 was also seeing the second-largest annual increase in carbon dioxide emissions in history.
The IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said:
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