Lock-on protest outside Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, 10 December 2019. Photo: Used with the owner’s consent
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion have locked themselves together to block the entrance of the Horse Hill oil site near Gatwick.
In a statement, the organisation said this was part of a day of action highlighting the links between fossil fuels and the climate emergency.
Protest outside Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, 10 December 2019. Photo: Used with the owner’s consent
The Horse Hill site, operated by a subsidiary of UK Oil & Gas plc, received planning permission in September from Surrey County Council to extract oil for 20 years.
Extinction Rebellion said this would add an estimated 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Vehicles unable to deliver to Horse Hill oil site because of protest, 10 December 2019. Photo:: Used with the owner’s consent
Molly, one of the campaigners who is taking part in the protest said:
“We are paying UK Oil & Gas a visit to highlight that recent permissions will make Horse Hill the second largest onshore oil facility in the UK.
“They are not only contributing to climate chaos with 20 years of climate wrecking CO2 and methane emissions, but will also be using extreme extraction methods to produce tight oil from shale rock.
“It’s time everyone realised this is a real emergency and that companies like UKOG have to go.”
The High Court has granted an injunction against protests at the Horse Hill site.
UK Oil & Gas said in a statement this morning:
“We notice that the XR protesters outside our Horse Hill site are wearing helmets, overalls and using drinking vessels which are all made from oil-derived products. How will they cope without oil? How will any of us cope?”
Updated
A specialist police unit has been working to release the protesters from the lock-on device. Photos used with the owners’ consents.
A spokesperson for Surrey Police later said Gillian Fletcher, 57, of Clifton Road, Wokingham, and Steve Lowes, 48, of Goring Road, Staines-upon-Thames, had been charged with wilful obstruction of a highway. They have been released on conditional bail and are next due to appear at South West Surrey Magistrates’ Court in Guildford on 31 December 2019.
Extinction Rebellion also held a protest today at Surrey County Council headquarters in Kingston (see DrillOrDrop report). The council is due to decide in January 2020 on UKOG planning application to drill for oil at Dunsfold.
Categories: Opposition
DRILL OR DROP? 
Look at all those Oil based products they are wearing ! Utter hypocrites who need a job instead of blocking hard working people from actually working. No doubt they will soon be going home when released to nice warm heating…..electricity…I Phones…Computers….Using cars etc
Dear UKOG investors,
Instead of just regurgitating the same old BS about conventional oil plays why don’t you do your own research? Start by finding out which oil play is the best analogue for the Kimmeridge Clay Layer, then find out how the oil is extracted there. (I’ll give you a clue, it was uncommercial for decades before the advent of high volume fracking there, it now produces oil from back to back wells, 1 every square mile). Look it up.
That’s where the Angus investors got burnt. Angus investigated the Kimmeridge shale and finally declared it was uncommercial without fracking. UKOG tried a different stimulation method at Broadford Bridge, matrix acidisation (passed off as an acid wash), but couldn’t make oil flow from the same shale source rock. What makes Horse Hill different is that the well has been drilled through the fault’s rubble zone, where they can get some temporary flow (it’s already depleting) but the practice of drilling near faults to avoid having to frack isn’t going to make shale oil extraction commercial across the Weald. Although you can expect more earthquakes and the migration of contaminants via the faults.
The continuous oil pool story is a fairy tale, and Sanderson and co. have been taking you all for a ride. Why do you think all UKOG’s partners have been leaving one by one?
That’s fine if that is your speculation, Dorkinian.
How come your speculation is so superior to that of “investors” who actually do their research, and then decide it looks compelling enough to invest their money?
Or is it that you think you could influence the share price and buy in cheaper? Hmm, not something that is common place! LOL.
Speculation?
My sources are UKOG themselves and reports by Nutech, Schlumberger, Xodus and the British Geological Survey. It’s tight oil.
Yours?
Speculation-and worse.
Isn’t it UKOG who have recently raised funds from an investor?? This would be one who doesn’t bother with due diligence?
Post something which makes sense. You know you want to.
I say the best way to make protest is planting trees.