The Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) has confirmed that it has extended Angus Energy’s licence at Brockham in Surrey until spring next year.

The licence, PL235, had been due to expire in March 2020 and was extended by the OGA until September 2020.

Angus, the licence operator, reported to shareholders in January 2020 that it was applying for a five-year extension to the licence.

But in correspondence with a local resident, the OGA said:

“We can confirm that the OGA recently agreed to extend PL235 for a period of 6 months.

“The new Anticipated Licence End Date is March 27, 2021.”

Online details about the licence have also been updated.

Earlier this month, Doriemus, a minority investor in PL235, announced it was selling its 10% interest in PL235 to Angus Energy. If the deal is successful, Angus will hold 75%.

Also this month, Angus said it would abandon Brockham if it did not get permission to reinject waste water at the site. The company said it had applied to the Environment Agency for a variation of the environmental permit to allow reinjection. This was part of a plan to restart oil production from the Portland formation at Brockham, Angus said.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it would consult the public on the variation once an application had been received and it was regarded as complete.

The EA added that because of the volume of applications it was currently dealing with there may be “some time” between when an application was received and when it was classed as being complete and made available for consultation.