As Britain’s onshore oil firms advance on the promise of ‘fast track’ planning, outspoken deal maker David Lenigas has called for the government to bypass local decision makers altogether.
Lenigas was until recently chairman of onshore oiler UK Oil & Gas (LON:UKOG), a company waiting for Surrey county council to make a planning decision for a project near Gatwick airport.
“I personally feel the UK Govt should take all permitting for onshore oil and gas wells away from Councils in the national interest,” he told his Twitter followers.
Last week, the planning inspectorate allowed an appeal against Surrey County Council’s previous decision not to give permission to drill an exploration well at the Holmwood site.
The exploration project neighbours UKOG’s Horse Hill project and, if permission is granted, UKOG will go ahead with a deal to acquire 20% of Holmwood, which is operated by Europa (LON:EOG) and also involves Egdon (LON:EDR).
UKOG has already seen success in the area via a 20% stake in nearby Horse Hill - the so called Gatwick Gusher.
If Holmwood goes ahead, UKOG will earn its 20% stake by paying 40% of the costs for a new well that could potentially assess similar targets to Horse Hill.
There, industry consultants Schlumberger and Nutech have in recent months provided very significant estimates (up to 9bn barrels) of potential oil-in-place at the project and work is ongoing to understand how much of this ‘in-place’ oil might be recoverable.
Lenigas stepped down in July from his position as UKOG’s chairman and left the board, he does however retain a 3.6% shareholding in the company.