The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) announced recently the latest round of licences granted nationally to explore for onshore oil and gas. Licences have been granted in and around our local area. Constituents have written to me expressing concern that such licences permit fracking. I thought it may be helpful to explain the process and what the grant of such licences means.
The licences are called Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDLs). PEDLs are granted to companies which seek to explore for and extract onshore oil and gas through conventional and unconventional means, such as fracking. These licences merely give exclusivity to the licensee and do not give any direct permission for conventional or unconventional operations to begin.
Before any operations can commence, the licensee will have to apply for and obtain various permissions and consents. These include for example:
- planning permission;
environmental permits from the Environment Agency;
Health & Safety Executive scrutiny of well designs; and
further consent for drilling operations from the OGA.
Where fracking is being considered, additional regulatory requirements and consents will apply, including the requirement for consent from the Secretary of State.
The UK has a strong record of regulating the safe extraction of onshore oil and gas robustly and has done over the past 50 years. This experience is being brought to bear on unconventional operations.
I believe the Government has an obligation to explore the potential for domestic energy sources, and I support their efforts to continue to achieve this. A successful UK oil and gas industry creates jobs, and I hope that this initial stage in the process will help create jobs locally.
I understand and appreciate people's concerns about fracking, however, I am assured that the Government is creating a regulatory regime that provides clear, strong protections for the environment.