Illegal oil drilling stopped at Surrey site

The developer of the Horse Hill oil and gas project has halted oil extraction, four months after planning permission was quashed by the Supreme Court.

Surrey County Council gave planning permission four new oil wells and 20 years of oil production at Horse Hill in 2019. 

However, following legal action bought by local resident Sarah Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group and backed by Friends of the Earth, the Supreme Court ruled that the council had acted unlawfully in giving permission without considering the climate impacts when the oil is inevitably burned.

Unauthorised

This quashed the planning permission, meaning that the council will need to make a new decision about the site. 

And yet data from industry regulator the North Sea Transition Authority revealed that the Horse Hill site produced 138 tonnes of oil in July 2024, at a rate of 33 barrels a day, meaning that it had been operating without permission. 

Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion blocked the entrance to the site in Horley, Surrey, in protest at the company’s continued extraction of fossil fuels in contravention of the ruling.

On 22 October, lawyers for FoE wrote to Surrey County Council, urging it to take immediate enforcement action against the unauthorised drilling within a week. 

It warned that failing to enforce unauthorised oil drilling was unlawful, in line with a legal opinion by leading planning and environmental barristers James Maurici KC and Toby Fisher last year, in relation to unauthorised coal extraction at the Ffos-y-Fran site in south Wales.

Compliance

Responding to the news that drilling had stopped, Niall Toru, lawyer at FoE, said: “We are thrilled the developer of the Horse Hill project finally suspended oil drilling at the site. This is much owed to the tireless efforts of local activists who have kept up pressure against the development after many years of campaigning.”

However, the fact that the drilling went unchecked for four months raises ‘serious questions’ for Surrey County Council, he said. 

In a statement, UK Oil and Gas confirmed that it had instructed HHDL to suspend oil production at Horse Hill from Friday 25 October. It added that it had been in contact with Surrey County Council since the day of the Supreme Court ruling regarding the site’s status.

Representatives from Surrey County Council had visited the site on 16 October, and other regulators had been kept up to date, it added. 

“It should be noted that the Supreme Court’s decision was not the result of any action, error or omission by the company or its subsidiary, HHDL, and that HHDL has acted as a responsible operator in full regulatory compliance during the six years of production planning consent,” it stated. 

Enforcement

A detailed plan for full suspension of related operations and activities, including emptying and cleaning storage tanks, flow lines and other process equipment will be implemented following agreement with the council, it said.

HHDL was still planning to reapply for planning permission at the site, it added.

In a statement, Surrey County Council said that it was pleased that commercial production of oil at the site had ceased.

“However, discussions remain on-going in relation to full suspension of the site and as such the county’s planning enforcement investigation remains live,” it added. 

This Author

Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and chief reporter for the Ecologist. She tweets at @Cat_Early76.