Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil

The Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO) is a new UK Government office which claims that it 'aims to promote the safe, responsible, and environmentally sound recovery of the UK’s unconventional reserves of gas and oil'. It covers not only the development of shale gas and oil but also other forms of unconventional production such as coal bed methane.

The office sits within the Department of Energy and Climate Change, part of the Energy Development Unit.

It was launched 11 March 2013 at Westminster.

Budget

A Freedom of Information Act response by DECC stated that:

OUGO leads on the policy area and co-ordinates the work of other government departments and regulators, each of whom have their own costs and budgets. OUGO’s admin budget for 2014-15 is £794K and programme budget for activities is £987k.

Wining and dining with fracking bosses

In 2013 emails and text messages released in a Freedom of Information request made by Greenpeace revealed a close relationship between OUGO and other government departments with the industry:

In one text on 3 May, an unnamed Cuadrilla employee updates OUGO head Duarte Figueira on his meetings with the Balcombe parish council before adding “Please ask your press office not to comment on any speculative queries, enjoy your swimming and the weekend".

That same day Mr Figueira invited Cuadrilla boss, Francis Egan, to dinner and drinks at the Preston Marriot.

At the dinner, on 9 May, Mr Egan met Sir Jeremy Heywood along with other senior government figures key to decisions on fracking including DECC chief civil servant, Stephen Lovegrove and Phil Halsall, the CEO of Lancashire County Council. Tony Grayling from the Environment Agency (EA) was also present.

According to Greenpeace, large parts of the text message correspondence between Figuera and Cuadrilla were redacted. It surmised that 'Cuadrilla’s well documented difficulties in Balcombe may have strained the cordial relationship'.

On the 26 July, after a number of protestors were arrested near to Cuadrilla’s drilling site a Cuadrilla representative asks Mr Figueira “can we speak”, but there is no reply for four days.

The firm goes on to update Mr Figueira on the many TV appearances of their chief executive and the halting progress at the site “drilling was delayed today for technical reasons but should start tomorrow,” says another text, “will advise when underway.”

The reply to that text, on the 1 August, is entirely redacted.

People

• Duarte Figueira, Head of the Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO).