Rathlin Energy
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This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project |
Canadian-owned exploration company Rathlin Energy UK first conducted tests on shale rocks beneath the East Riding of Yorkshire in the UK in 2014 to help determine whether the formation is capable of being hydraulically fractured - the technical name for fracking.
Rathlin is wholly owned by Calgary-based Connaught Oil & Gas, a private Canadian company.
Following 'encouraging' data, the firm said it planned to carry out more tests at West Newton in 2016, and in August 2016 was granted two permits by the Environment Agency for the new oil and gas exploration West Newton B site. It was expected to begin site construction work there in early 2018[1] but as of November no work had been done.
In November 2018 it emerged that Rathlin UK owes nearly £34m according to its annual accounts. Its auditors, KPMG warned that the debts “constitute a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”. [2]
Contents
Activities
Licences
- In summer 2008, Britain's DECC awarded Rathlin Energy (UK) Limited [Rathlin] a licence (PEDL 183) to search for oil and natural gas north of the Humber from west of Beverley to the North Sea in the east. The licence area is 241,000 acres. Rathlin holds a 100 per cent working interest in the licence and has no partners. [3]
Environmental permits - mission creep?
In March 2014, Rathlin Energy was seeking environmental permits to carry out a series of tests on two wells at Crawberry Hill and West Newton, near Hull. The plans include so-called 'mini fall-off tests' in the Bowland shale rocks, which stretch across the north of England.
Rathlin stated that it had no plans to frack at either of the wells and was merely 'assessing the rock’s potential'. It said its main aims were to test two 'conventional' reservoirs– ones that would not require fracking – but that it was 'prudent' to test the shale as well. According to The Telegraph:
- Rathlin said the mini fall-off test would involve pumping up to 10,000 litres of water and potassium chloride into the shale rocks at pressure, “up to the point where the rock begins to be fractured”, to test how it permeates into the rocks.
- A 'mini fall-off test' is also referred to by industry as a 'mini-frac', leading to accusations from the environmental group Greenpeace that Rathlin is 'seeking permission to carry out a fracking test” and 'using its conventional wells as a Trojan horse to creep into this area, without stirring up local opposition'. [4]
The firm had first began drilling in a field off Walkington Heads in Crawberry Hill in Walkington Heads, near Bishop Burton in February 2012 to look for oil and gas deposits and then began to explore the site at the village of Fosham, near Aldbrough in Holderness. It said an application for environmental permits at a site near Skirlaugh relates to drilling that has already taken place, 'allaying concerns that a third site is being explored'. [5]
Crawberry Hill site abandoned, but West Newton exploratory permit extended
Rathlin announced in August 2015 it would abandon its exploratory well at Crawberry Hill on technical and commercial grounds.[6] Restoration of the site was completed by April 2016.
In September 2014 locals complained about noxious smells coming from Rathlin's exploratory oil and gas well at West Newton. The Environment Agency ordered the firm to rectify the situation.[7]
In late 2015 East Yorkshire councillors voted to extend Rathlin's permission to operate the West Newton A exploratory site for another three years but added a specific no-fracking clause.
People
Board
- David Montagu-Smith, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Rathlin Energy Limited and Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd. Director since 21 Jan 2008.
- John Hodgins, CEO, Connaught Oil & Gas Ltd. Director, Rathlin Energy Limited and Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd. Director since 21 Jan 2008.
- Robert Standley, Director, Rathlin Energy Limited and Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd. Director since 21 Jan 2008.
- Dermot Nesbitt Director, Rathlin Energy Limited. (appointed February 2017)
Consultants
- Simon Taylor, head of communications (circa 2015-17). Taylor is a director of Mercury Design and Marketing and Mercury Energy and Public Sector Services Ltd (Company Number 09623182), which cites Rathlin as among its successes.
Lobbying firms
- Weber Shandwick[8] from September 2011 to 2015.
Affiliations
Contact
- Website:
Resources
Notes
- ↑ West Newton Community Liaison Committee, Notes of Meeting held 7pm on 06 December 2017 at Densholme Care Farm, Great Hatfield, accessed January 2018
- ↑ Rathlin Energy UK, Directors report and financial statement for the year ended Accounts, 31 December 2017, signed off 26 October 2018, accessed 9 November 2018
- ↑ Official Statement, Rathlin Energy, 3 March 2014, acc 18 March 2014
- ↑ Emily Gosden, Rathlin plans shale tests in northern England, The Telegraph, 3 March 2014, acc 18 March 2014
- ↑ Holderness residents' ‘fracking fears’ as Rathlin Energy UK say permit application ‘not a new drilling site’, Hull Daily Mail, February 14, 2014, acc 18 March 2014
- ↑ Rathlin Energy, Plans to evaluate the West Newton Gas Prospect & update on Crawberry Hill, Recent news, 13 August 2015, accessed 19 August 2015
- ↑ John Vidal, East Yorkshire gas-drilling site making locals ‘sick from noxious smells’, The Guardian, 19 September 2014, accessed 29 September 2016.
- ↑ Register 1st September 2014 - 30th November 2014 APPC, accessed 29 January 2015
