Patrick Erwin

Senior civil servant Patrick Erwin was seconded to INEOS for two years and left the civil service to take up a role at the fracking and chemical firm

Patrick Erwin is a former senior UK civil servant who was seconded from central government to become the commercial director of Ineos Upstream UK from November 2013 until May 2016. His last role before working for the petrochemical giant was as head of energy markets and infrastructure strategy and programme office.

After his secondment ended Erwin continued to work with Ineos in a new role as business development director until December 2016. He left to join energy provider Northern Powergrid as its policy and markets director.

Revolving door

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

In early 2017 Spinwatch revealed Erwin's revolving door role in Ineos's strategic push for shale gas in the UK, following various FOI requests that had been refused by the government.

One stark example of the fracking industry and government interests aligning is the case of Patrick Erwin, a former top civil servant in the department of energy and climate change (DECC) and the department for communities and local government (DCLG).

Three years ago, Erwin was seconded to work at Ineos, the petrochemical giant. His move coincided with the firm’s foray into fracking. As Ineos Upstream’s new commercial director, he was central to the development of its shale gas plans, helping it secure over one million acres in government licences to become Britain’s biggest onshore oil and gas operator.

Erwin was Ineos' point-man for its ‘relationship with government and industry’. Documents released to Spinwatch under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal how in 2014 he organised meetings for Ineos’ billionaire owner, Jim Ratcliffe, with permanent secretary Stephen Lovegrove and other DECC top brass, ahead of the company’s final decision to enter the shale gas market.

A regular on the shale gas conference circuit, Erwin has argued that fracking is vital for the country’s future. In a speech in summer 2015 he warned that without shale gas the UK risked becoming an environmental ‘theme park'; a strategy he called ‘massively irresponsible’.

At the same event Erwin acknowledged the importance of talking to and 'standing up in front of communities' in potential shale gas areas. Yet less than a year later he and two other senior Ineos directors held a series of closed private meetings with parish councillors to discuss plans for Ineos license blocks in Cheshire, Derbyshire and North Yorkshire.

Despite FOIA requests, DECC refused to publicly name Erwin as the government’s man seconded to Ineos. Erwin only declared the secondment on his LinkedIn profile after it had ended in 2016. Last month he joined Northern Powergrid as its policy and markets director.

Securing onshore exploration licenses in the Government's 14th round

At Ineos Erwin led on commercial strategy, developing partnerships and on asset purchase. According to his LinkedIn achievements, he 'led the economics and work programme parts of for INEOS’s application to the 14th Onshore Licensing Round': 'secured $1bn commitment from the Group Board; Secured three significant acquisition farm-in deals: PEDL 133 (from BG), PEDL 162 (from Reach CSG) and 250’000 net acres across three basins from IGas (£168m).

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This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

*Speaker at the Global Shale Oil And Gas Summit 2015 Europe held in London July 2015.