Work to plug and abandon one of England’s few shale gas wells has been delayed – but it is due to be completed “within the next week”, DrillOrDrop has learned.

Equipment was delivered in September 2023 to decommission the well at the mothballed Springs Road site at Misson in north Nottinghamshire.

The work was due to take four weeks and local people had become concerned that the operator, Star Energy (formerly IGas), would miss the critical deadline for site restoration, less than 10 weeks away.

Nottinghamshire County Council, which is monitoring the operation, said the work should still be finished on time.

A spokesperson said:

“The site has been subject to a recent site inspection during which progress on the site has been reviewed and discussed with the developer. 

“Works to plug and abandon the well have slipped from the originally proposed schedule and were still ongoing at the time of the inspection. 

“Works were also underway to remove items which are no longer required for the development from the site as part of the restoration works.”

Asked when well plugging and abandonment would be finished, the spokesperson said:

“Works are ongoing and are expected to be completed within the next week and thereafter the rig will be removed.”

The next phase, to restore the site, was due to take 11 weeks.

Planning controls require this work to be done outside the nesting season, to prevent disturbance of birds on the neighbouring Misson Carr site of special scientific interest.

There was evidence in 2018 that rare long-eared owls moved from their usual nesting locations, away from the noise of the site.

The annual nesting season begins on 1 February. Asked whether restoration would be completed by the deadline of 31 January 2024, the council spokesperson said:

“The schedule of works has been revised to deliver restoration within the permitted timescale.”

If the deadline were missed, the spokesperson said the council would review what action should be taken.

Frack Free Misson, which has opposed the shale gas site in the village since 2015, said:

“It goes without saying that the local community looks forward to finally seeing the back of the fracking industry from Misson.

“However, it is important that regulatory conditions are complied with over this final phase, and to that end it is encouraging to see Nottinghamshire’s planning officers taking a proactive role in monitoring the decommissioning and restoration of the Springs Road site.”

DrillOrDrop put questions to Star Energy about the restoration project. The company did not respond.

The Misson well is one of the few remaining in England that were drilled specifically to target shale gas.

IGas began work on the site in November 2017 and drilled the well in January 2019.

The company later revealed it had plans for fracking and more drilling at the site if the government lifted the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in England.

But in 2021, Nottinghamshire County Council refused to extend the life of Springs Road for another three years. IGas was ordered to plug and abandon the well and restore the site.

Two other shale gas wells, at Preston New Road, in Lancashire, have been ordered to be plugged and abandoned by 30 December 2024. A fourth, at Tinker Lane, also in Nottingham, was decommissioned in 2019.

Other remaining Star Energy wells at Barton Moss, in Salford, and Ellesmere Port, in Cheshire, were originally planned to target coalbed methane, though did reach the shale formations.

The Third Energy well at Kirby Misperton, in North Yorkshire, was planned as a conventional gas well before proposals, never implemented, to frack it.