Wednesday 6 February 2019

New ‘stringent’ environmental permit approved for Surrey oil site

A new permit imposing “stringent conditions” on an oil production site in Surrey has been issued.

The Environmental Agency approved a variation to the bespoke environmental permit at the existing Palmers Wood site operated by IGas Energy Production.

It includes several improved conditions required to meet the environmental standards within which industry can operate.

It has also issued a separate new Radioactive Substances Activities permit for the handling of naturally occurring radioactive materials which result from standard oil and gas production.

The Palmers Wood site is part of the Weald Basin – covering 11 fields in total – which has produced more than 21 million barrels of oil to date.

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said: “This variation is necessary following our review of all oil and gas permits granted before October 2013. Although the activities at Palmers Wood have not changed significantly since the existing permit was issued, this variation updates the permit to the current regulatory requirements.

“We do not issue an environmental permit for a site if we consider that activities taking place will cause significant pollution to the environment or harm to human health.”