Third Energy UK

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Third Energy UK Gas is a gas exploration company, previously known as Viking UK Gas Ltd (until November 2013) and Tullow UK Gas Ltd (1999-2003).

The company is 97 per cent owned by a private equity arm of Barclays bank, Barclays Natural Resources Investment (recently renamed Global Natural Resource Investments), which in 2014 described Third Energy as a 'start up business that is focused on acquiring and developing gas assets in the Southern North Sea and Central North Sea.

Activities

Third Energy's team is led by Rasik Valand (CEO) and consists of executives with significant exploration and production experience in the UK. According to the company's website bumpf:

Third Energy exists to develop the UK's indigenous gas and oil resources in the most efficient, environmentally responsible, manner. Our interests encompass exploration stage gravity and seismic activity to appraisal drilling to the production of gas and power.

We operate gas fields in the Vale of Pickering in North Yorkshire and convert the gas produced to electricity for the UK's national grid. Over the next five years, we will be expanding our operations, both onshore in Yorkshire and offshore in the Southern North Sea to build a portfolio of gas assets. This will help to maintain national production for longer and reduce the need for UK imports of gas.

Interestingly, no direct mention of shale gas exploration was evident on the company's website in May 2014.

Fracking in North Yorkshire

Protests North Yorkshire, August 2016

In May 2015 Third Energy became the second firm, after Cuadrilla, to apply for a licence to frack for gas in Britain after submitting an application for a well at Kirby Misperton in Ryedale - about 25 miles from York. Despite protests from local residents and environmental campaigners, Third Energy said it was confident it could proceed in a safe way. The application came after new energy secretary, Amber Rudd, announced 'she was determined to push forward with shale and even allow extraction under national parks', but also promised it would be tightly regulated.

Despite strong opposition from the local community, Third Energy was granted approval on 23 May 2016 to frack for gas at Kirby Misperton by North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee - the first firm to be allowed to frack in the UK in five years. The council voted with a clear seven to four majority.

Third has said it will begin fracking for gas at the Kirby Misperton site at the end of year, when cold weather will minimise protests. Campaigners expressed concern about the controversial ruling's impact:

'These plans could pave the way for thousands of fracking wells to spread across Yorkshire and many other parts of the country if not stopped. Impacts, including pipelines, air pollution and waste disposal will spread far beyond the areas being drilled. Third Energy's plans in Ryedale are the thin end of a very large wedge,' said Frack Off.

Judicial review over 'unlawful' fracking approval

The council now faces a judicial review challenge in the High Court over its 'unlawful' decision to allow fracking. Law firm Leigh Day is acting on behalf of resident group Frack Free Ryedale and Friends of the Earth, on the basis that:

• North Yorkshire had failed to properly assess the climate change impact of the fracking through its failure to consider the environmental impact of burning the shale gas extracted to create electricity at a nearby power station in Knapton
• The council had failed to secure long-term financial protection from the fracking company against environmental damage of the area.

“Nearly everyone who responded to the council’s fracking consultation in Ryedale rejected the plans," says lawyer Richard Stein.

A decision is expected November 2016.

Controversies

In summer 2013 at the height of anti-fracking protests in Balcombe, Surrey, Third Energy took shale rock samples while drilling for conventional gas in Kirby Misperton, Ryedale.

The company has drilling rights across a 154 square mile area around the Vale of Pickering, which sits above part of the Bowland shale formation which stretches from Cheshire to Yorkshire and is estimated to hold around 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas.

According to campaign group FrackOff there was a degree of stealth involved:

Viking UK Gas (a subsidiary of Third Energy) was caught using Cuadrilla’s drilling rig (which is now drilling for IGas at Barton Moss) to drill a deep well into the Bowland Shale at Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire. The primary target of the well was the conventional Skipton Moor Grit formation but the well was drilled to a total depth of around 9,000 ft, below the bottom of the Bowland Shale. Core sampling the Bowland Shale at Kirby Misperton is just one small step towards fracking Yorkshire, but given that slowly creeping forward seems to be the name of the game at the moment, all these small steps need to be fought or full scale fracking will soon be a reality.

It turns out that at the same time a company called Rathlin Energy were doing a very similar thing in the East Riding of Yorkshire, just to the north of Hull. Rathlin has drilled two wells at Crawberry Hill near Beverley and at West Newton near Aldbrough (see map below). While portrayed as purely conventional oil wells both were drilled much deeper than the primary target, ending just below the bottom of the Bowland Shale (9,200 ft for Crawberry Hill and 10,500 ft for West Newton – see schematic below). For both wells the primary target was the Permian era Caedby Formation at a depth of less than 4,900 ft but a secondary objective was to take core samples of the Bowland Shale. Rathlin has now submitted applications for two permits from the Environment Agency for continued testing of the West Newton well, with a public consultation (ending on the 4th March 2014). The permits are for the management of extractive waste (EPR/BB3001FT/A001) and a radioactive substances activity (EPR/PB3030DJ/A001). This application for a radioactive substances permit has attracted some attention in the area but not nearly as much as it should have done. Even more worryingly Rathlin has now submitted a similar application for the Crawberry Hill well (Mining Waste Operations – EPR/BB3000KC/A001, Radioactive Substances Activity – EPR/PB3930DV/A001) with a public consultation (ending on the 12th March 2014).

People

• Rasik Valand (CEO) - a co-founder of Third Energy
• David Robottom - chief finance director. has worked for Shell, BG Group and Texaco in technical, commercial and managerial roles over the last 35 years.
• Andy Mortimer
• Grant Emms - co-founder
• John Dewar - co-founder

Board

• Meb Somani – Non Executive Chairman
• Tom Cairns – Non Executive Director - Tom is a Director in BNRI based in London.

Directors listed at Companies House

• John Alexander Gordon Dewar, Director, 26 Jul 2011-
• David James Robottom, Director, 12 Mar 2012-
• Rasik Valand, Director, 26 Jul 2011-

Companies House details

Company Number: 01421481

Status: Active

Incorporation Date: 21 May 1979 (almost 35 years ago)

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Jurisdiction: United Kingdom

Registered Address: KNAPTON GENERATING STATION, EAST KNAPTON, MALTON, NORTH YORKSHIRE, YO17 8JF, United Kingdom

SIC Codes

06.10 - Extraction of crude petroleum

06.20 - Extraction of natural gas

Previous Names

• Viking UK Gas Ltd (2013-11-29)
• Tullow UK Gas Ltd (2003-12-11)
• Perenco UK Ltd (1999-03-02)
• Kelt UK Ltd (1995-08-04)

Lobbyists

• Newgate Communications from September 2013 until present. Former journalist turned lobbyist Jason Nisse has handled Third's account since late 2014, and also handles the industry trade body group UKOOG account

Affiliations

• Global Natural Resource Investments (formerly Barclay's Natural Resources Investment)

Contact

Includes:

THIRD ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED

1ST FLOOR

1 GROSVENOR PLACE

LONDON SW1 7HU

UNITED KINGDOM

Spinwatch and Powerbase resources

See: Fracking lobbying firms

• Melissa Jones and Andy Rowell, Access all areas: Westminster's (vast) fracking lobby exposed, 29 April 2015.
• Andy Rowell, Fracking fears for the North York Moors after oil company gains permission to drill for gas, 10 August 2014

External resources

• BBC Any Questions, Ryedale audience and panel express their views on fracking in Yorkshire during BBC’s ‘Any Questions?’, Frackfree Ryedale website