Aurora Energy Resources

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Aurora Energy Resources is a private UK oil and gas company based in Aberdeen Scotland. First set up in 2008, it was initially known as Pacific Shelf Limited according to Companies House records.

In recent years Aurora has risen up the ranks of the key players pushing for shale gas exploration in the UK.

Following the 14th UK Onshore Licensing Round, it now has four Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDLs) covering 445 km2 (110,000 acres) in the heart of the Bowland Shale. The area is expected to be Europe's first commercially viable shale gas field and includes other operators such as Cuadrilla Resources.

Fracking plans in West Lancashire

Aurora's licences include PEDL 164 covering 100km2 of West Lancashire and Merseyside. In January 2018 the firm wrote a letter to local residents in Formby, West Lancashire to inform them of its plans to drill and frack two wells to the north of Great Altcar village, on the edge of Formby. Managing director Ian Roche said Aurora had begun the first stages of applying for planning permission for the site on Altcar Moss, submitting details to Lancashire County Council of its proposals to drill and frack a vertical and separate horizontal well there. The letter said that the site between Higher Moss and Middle Moss Lanes was approximately 850 metres from the nearest properties.

On 27 June 2019 Aurora Energy confirmed it was seeking consent to drill, frack for shale gas and test two exploratory boreholes at Sutton Lane near Great Altcar village and would be submitting a planning application to Lancashire County Council.

an Roche, Managing Director, Aurora Energy Resources said:

'The Altcar Moss project looks to open a new chapter in the hydrocarbon story of West Lancashire, which has an exploration and production history dating back over 80 years. If successful, the development of a significant new indigenous energy resource would provide an important contribution to both the regional and national economies through the growth in high-skilled jobs, supply chain opportunities, and tax and business rate receipts.

The recent Committee for Climate Change report recognized that natural gas will continue to play an important role in UK energy supply beyond 2050. The UK must maximise production of our own resources, including natural gas from shale, to reduce our increasing dependency on expensive imports, which is currently set to reach 70 per cent of UK demand by 2030.' ref> Jamie Lopez, Major fracking firm set to begin work at site in West Lancashire, Lancs Live, 27 June 2019, accessed 28 June </ref>

Political access

Attendee at May 2018 roundtable with shale gas companies and suppliers

Energy minister Claire Perry hosted a May 2018 roundtable with the fracking industry just hours before she gave evidence to a committee of MPs on the Conservative government's proposed changes to relax the rules on shale gas development in the UK.

A 'reconstructed' attendee list was released under the freedom of information act to North Yorkshire resident Jonathan Bales following an internal review of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's initial almost completely redacted FOI response.

Oil and gas companies at the roundtable included:

• Aurora Energy, BP, Cuadrilla, IGas, Ineos, Third Energy and lobby group UK Onshore Oil and Gas.

• Service companies: Ground Gas Solutions, Marriott Drilling, Onshore Energy Service Group, Zetland Group.

• Investors and fund managers: Riverstone (a major partner in Cuadrilla), Kerogen (investor in IGas), Global Natural Resource Investments (formerly part of Barclays which invested in Third Energy), KKR, JP Morgan.

Other industries and organisations: Chemical Industries Association chemical company SABIC, Coalfield Regeneration Trust, Engineering Employers’ Federation, GMB.

People

• Ian Roche - Managing director Aurora Petroleum/Aurora Energy. Panellist at May 2014 Shale Gas World conference discussion: 'What are the planning and environmental permitting considerations for operators?'. Ian is a council member of UKOOG, the trade body representing the onshore oil and gas industry.

Directors/ Officers

• NICOLA PATRICIA HAMILTON, secretary, 17 Dec 2009-
• TRISTAN PAUL CUTLER, director, 31 May 2010-
• LAURENCE WILLIAM KINCH, director, 17 Dec 2009-
• KENNETH GEORGE MCHATTIE, director, 17 Dec 2009-
• IAN PATRICK ROCHE, director, 17 Dec 2009-
• MARGARET ELAINE FERGUS STODDART, director, 17 Dec 2009-

Former executives and directors

• Malcolm Gladwell - former Aurora MD, was consulted as part of the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering's June 2012 report 'Shale gas extraction in the UK: a review of hydraulic fracturing'

Related firms

• Aurora Petroleum - crossover of many of same directors

Constituencies that include Aurora's licences awarded in OGA's 14th round

Aurora owns five shale licenses based in Lancashire.

• Blackburn - Kate Hollern MP
• Chorley - Lindsay Hoyle MP
• Knowsley - George Howarth MP
• Makerfield - Yvonne Fovargue MP
• Ribble Valley - Nigel Evans MP
• Rossendale and Darwen - Jake Berry MP, junior Conservative minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government June 2017
• Sefton Central - Bill Esterson MP
• Southport - John Pugh MP
• St Helens North - Connor McGinn MP
• West Lancashire - Rosie Cooper MP
• Wigan - Lisa Nandy MP

Companies House details

• Company no. SC335749
• Registered office address

The Office, Westfield Estate, Milltimber, Aberdeenshire, AB13 0EX

Company status: Active

Company type: Private limited Company

Incorporated on 3 January 2008

Previous names

Name Period

• AURORA EXPLORATION (UK) LIMITED 04 Aug 2010 - 20 Dec 2013
• EDP ONSHORE LIMITED 05 Feb 2008 - 04 Aug 2010
• PACIFIC SHELF 1485 LIMITED 03 Jan 2008 - 05 Feb 2008

Affiliations

• UKOOG

Relevant anti-fracking groups

• Halsall against Fracking