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Ocelot

UKOG doesn't have the money to "transition out" of a paper bag. Have you done your due diligence on the number of wells that need to made safe at BB and HH? The cash has nearly dried up. They will be pushing to survive until the next AGM imo. They can only delay so long.

Part 2

Surrey County Council has said it is waiting for additional information from the operator on the greenhouse emissions from burning the Horse Hill oil, the issue at the heart of the Supreme Court judgement.

But today’s meeting revealed that there was no deadline for the company to provide this data.

Ms Saadeh said:

“A definitive timescale hasn’t been set. That is a matter for ongoing conversation so I can’t, at this point, give a confirmed date by which we expect to have received additional information.”

Campaigners have called for the site to be restored to its former state now that there is no planning permission. But the council confirmed today that there was no deadline for this either.

It said:

“no formal date has been agreed by the council by which the restoration of the site must have been completed. On-going monitoring of the situation, both in discussion with the operator and by site visit, is taking place.”

Ms Saadeh added:

“The current position is that the development at site is unlawful and the operator should therefore be remedying the situation as soon as possible.”

Members of the public at today’s meeting contrasted the situation at Horse Hill with a nearby unlawful waste site, where the council had issued a stop notice “fairly promptly”.

Ms Saadeh said the Horse Hill operator had been working with the council towards a voluntary resolution.

Earlier this week, the campaign group, Weald Action Group, asked the council to prevent the sale of oil produced at Horse Hill after the Supreme Court judgement.

Today, the council was asked to take formal steps to ensure that UKOG did not profit from its “unlawful activity in Surrey”.

The planning committee chairman, Cllr Edward Hawkins, suggested this was beyond the remit of the meeting.

Ms Saadeh said:

“The purpose of the planning enforcement system is not to be punitive but to seek remedy, in terms of remedying the planning harm. And that must always be the thrust of what we are looking at.”

The Surrey wellsite that unlawfully extracted oil after the Supreme Court quashed its planning permission has not been issued with a formal stop notice, the county council confirmed today.

Oil extraction at the Horse Hill site near Horley continued for four months after the court judgement in June this year.

Production stopped on 25 October 2024 when the operator, a subsidiary of UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG), voluntarily suspended work.

Responding to public questions, Surrey County Council planning officers said today:

“No formal enforcement or stop notice has been issued to date at the site.

“The matter remains subject to on-going review alongside the work necessary to review the voluntary cessation by the operator.”

Responding to public questions, the council’s planning development manager, Sian Saadeh, told a meeting of the planning committee this morning:

“The consideration of formal action at Horse Hill remains a live matter with the council’s enforcement and monitoring team.”

She added:

“We continue to monitor the situation closely at Horse Hill and that does not preclude further action being taken if it is deemed to be necessary.”

Asked by Sarah Freeman how the council would ensure that UKOG did not recommence unlawful activity at Horse Hill, Ms Saadeh said:

“If we receive evidence that that had happened that would clearly be a change in the circumstances and that may be the point at which we have to further consider formal enforcement action.

“The planning enforcement system cannot pre-emptively prevent something. It is a reactive system. So, if we receive evidence that there has been the recommencement of extraction we would need to consider a robust course of action at that point in time.”

Jackie Macey accused the council of failing to act on the unlawful oil production at Horse Hill.

Ms Saadeh denied that the council had ignored extraction at the site:

“The operator was advised and told that the continued extraction was unlawful.” She said the production was not ignored – “an enforcement investigation was beginning”.

But when asked by Neville Kemp what remained to be investigated, Ms Saadeh said:

“we are reviewing information that has been obtained at this particular moment in time and that will inform what does happen next. Monitoring at the site is active – what the operator is doing at the site in terms of cessation and remediation of the site.”

She added:

“Part of our review of the information we have obtained is to inform future decisions as to what the conclusion of the case will be, but it remains live until the matter is resolved. There isn’t a defined point at this moment in time. Until we are satisfied that all necessary steps have been taken the investigation and monitoring will remain life.

The Horse Hill planning permission will now need to be redetermined if the site is to continue work.

Campaigners call for stop on oil sales from Supreme Court well site

The group which secured a landmark legal judgement on climate emissions from onshore oil is calling for a block on sales extracted unlawfully at a wellsite in Surrey.

Weald Action Group and fellow campaigners outside the Supreme Court after the landmark judgement, 20 June 2024. Photo: DrillOrDrop.com

The Supreme Court quashed planning permission for oil production at the Horse Hill site near Horley on 20 June 2024. It said the consent was granted unlawfully because Surrey County Council failed to consider emissions from burning the extracted oil.

Despite this, Horse Hill, operated by a subsidiary of UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG), continued to extract oil after the judgement. Production stopped on 25 October when UKOG instructed the company to “voluntarily suspend” work.

The Weald Action Group, represented by Sarah Finch, has now asked Surrey County Council to put a stop notice on sales of oil produced at Horse Hill after the Supreme Court judgement.

In a letter, released this afternoon, WAG said the council should warn UKOG that oil sales in contravention of a stop notice could be subject to a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The group also said the council must ensure no emissions were released from oil produced between the date of the judgement and when production stopped.

The total volume of oil produced since the Supreme Court judgement is not yet known because official figures are published three months in arrears. But available data shows the site produced more than 300m3 in the full months of July (163m3) and August 2024 (153m3).

WAG has estimated that burning oil produced from June to August 2024 would release almost 1,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Surrey County Council told WAG last month that there had been no planning permission for the Horse Hill site since 20 June 2024. It also said it did not know if, or when, a new application would be submitted.

At a meeting last month, the council said it considered continued oil production at Horse Hill to have been unlawful and not permitted by the authority.

WAG has also asked the council for an update about the timing and next steps for the redetermination of the quashed planning permission. In the absence of any active planning consent at Horse Hill, WAG said the council should move to restore the site.

James Knapp of the Weald Action Group said:

“Surrey County Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, yet two months later approved planning permission for 25 years of oil production from six wells at Horse Hill. They demonstrated a gross failure to act in the interests of people and planet, and to respect the Paris Agreement which is enshrined in British law.

“The Weald Action Group fought for five years to win the Supreme Court judgement which means any oil production at Horse Hill is unlawful. We have just had our hottest year ever, exceeding the

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