This morning, the county council’s planning committee voted 10 to 1 to allow extraction for 20 years at Rathlin Energy West Newton-A.
They also supported four additional wells, an expansion to the well pad, and further testing of existing wells.
#BreakingNews 20 years of oil production approved at (East Riding Council – Committee Meetings) Rathlin Energy’s #WestNewton-A site. The county council’s planning committee voted by 10 to 1 in favoure "live link" https://t.co/cNS3seBd9L pic.twitter.com/QaWFZg2FdN
— Share_Talk ™ (@Share_Talk) March 17, 2022
This scheme is a scaled-down version of an application that was rejected in September 2021.
The approved version will increase the number of wells on the site from 2 to 6 and the area of the site from 0.9ha up to 2.52ha.
The Kirkham Abbey formation would be the target of the new wells. Up to 10 tankers would transport oil to South Killingholme’s refinery each day.
In September 2021, the Oil and Gas Authority’s domestic oil and gas production supply forecast were seen to fall below the Climate Change Committee projections for domestic oil and gas demand based on its Balanced Net Zero Pathway to 2050.
The current crisis has made even more clear the significant domestic oil and gas supply gap that will need to be filled either by further imports or new domestic production.
The West Newton project is expected to support the security of supply, contribute to reducing the widening supply gap and bring meaningful local inward investment and employment to the East Riding, consistent with the government`s levelling-up agenda.
For further information, please contact
Union Jack Oil plc [email protected]
David Bramhill
