Keep up to date with January 2024’s news with our digest of daily updated headlines about the business, regulation and campaigns around UK fracking, shale, and onshore oil and gas.

For headlines from previous months, click here. Please let us know if we’ve missed something important  contact@DrillOrDrop.com

Wednesday 31 January 2024

NSTA offers 24 licences in North Sea. The North Sea Transition Authority has offered 24 oil and gas licences in the second part of the 33rd licensing round. Shell, Equinor, bp, Total and NEO are among 17 separate successful companies. A further 27 licences were offered in October 2023.

Tuesday 30 January 2024

Rapid phase out of fossil fuels needed – UK climate advisor warns. DrillOrDrop reports on comments by the Climate Change Committee which warned the UK must “rapidly replace fossil fuels with local carbon alternatives” to meet its climate targets.

Revealed: A US president was firmed informed of CO2’s impact 59 years ago this month. DeSmog reports that a 1965 memo to Lyndon Baines Johnson discloses the link between CO2 emissions and climate change — showing federal climate action could have started decades sooner.

Monday 29 January 2024

Wressle gets go-ahead for larger gas engine. DrillOrDrop reports on consent for a larger gas engine to generate electricity at the Wressle oil site in North Lincolnshire.

Union Jack heads for Texas. DrillOrDrop reports on three mineral royalty purchases by Union Jack Oil in the Permian Basin.

Weather record for warmest January set in Scottish Highlands. BBC News reports a new UK record high temperature has been set in the Scottish Highlands, according to provisional figures from the Met Office. It recorded a peak of 19.6C (67.3F) at Kinlochewe on Sunday, making it hotter than Rome and the Cote d’Azur.

Friday 26 January 2024

Biden delays consideration of new natural gas export terminals, citing climate risk. AP reports the Biden administration s delaying consideration of new natural gas export terminals in the United States.

Tuesday 23 January 2024

Norwegian campaigners secure historic win on key issue at centre of Horse Hill landmark legal challenge. DrillOrDrop reports that the arguments at the centre of a landmark legal challenge over UK onshore oil production have secure a separate historic court win against the Norwegian government.

Monday 22 January 2024

Offshore oil and gas licensing bill wins second reading. DrillOrDrop report on the parliamentary debate on the bill and outside opposition to the measure.

Thursday 18 January 2024

Reabold announces £4.4m payment from Shell. DrillOrDrop reports Reabold Resources, a key investor in the West Newton oil and gas field in East Yorkshire, is to receive £4.4m from Shell in the coming days.

OEP chair says government needs to speed up, scale up and make sure its plans stack up. Dame Glenys Stacey, chair of the Office of Environmental Protection, launches the second statutory report on government progress in improving the natural environment.

Tuesday 15 January 2024

Europa forecasts fall in cash flow because of Wressle delays. Europa Oil & Gas says in a statement its free cash flow for 2023 is expected to be £0.8m, lower than expected, because of delays in development activities at the Wressle oil site in North Lincolnshire. This reduced revenue receipts for the year but also resulted in lower capital expenditure than expected.

Friday 12 January 2024

Renewables boss backs challenge to oil production in Lincs protected area. DrillOrDrop reports that a legal challenge by SOS Biscathorpe to oil production in the Lincolnshire Wolds area of outstanding natural beauty is being supported by the head of the renewables company, Ecotricity, Dale Vince.

Thursday 11 January 2024

Scottish government forced to disclose climate impacts of its infrastructure plan. The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland and Good Law Project has won a promise from Scottish ministers to publish a detailed assessment of carbon emissions expected from a £26bn investment plan.

Chris Stark to step down as chief executive of the CCC. The Climate Change Committee reports its chief executive will leave in April 2024, after six years. He will join the Carbon Trust as chief executive later this year.

Net zero secretary Claire Coutinho took donation from climate science denial funder. DeSmog reports the energy security and net zero secretary, Claire Coutinho, accepted a £2,000 donation in January from Lord Michael Hintze, a funder of the UK’s leading climate science denial pressure group. He also donated to the environment secretary, Steve Barclay, DeSmog reports

Wednesday 10 January 2024

Delays to timetable for plugging Cuadrilla’s fracked wells. DrillOrDrop reports that Cuadrilla’s plan to decommission its fracked wells at Preston New Road in Lancashire is already behind schedule.

Reabold fights off second shareholder challenge to board. DrillOrDrop reports a major backer of the West Newton oil and gas project in East Yorkshire has fought off another challenge by a group of shareholders.

Ellesmere Port hydrogen energy plant plans approved. BBC News reports Cheshire West and Chester Council has approved Essar Oil plans to build a large-scale hydrogen production plant, despite questions about its green credentials. The company said the plant would produce enough energy to power Liverpool and would capture two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Tuesday 9 January 2024

Breaking: Court of Appeal refuses further Dunsfold challenge. DrillOrDrop reports that opponents of gas exploration near the Surrey village of Dunsfold have been refused permission for a further appeal.

2023 confirmed as world’s hottest year on record. The Guardian and BBC News reports that 2023 has been confirmed as the warmest on record, driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather event. Prof John Marsham, at the University of Leeds, tells the Guardian:

“We desperately need to rapidly cut fossil fuel use and reach net zero to preserve the livable climate that we all depend on.”

Analysis: record opposition to climate action by UK’s right-leaning newspapers in 2023. CarbonBrief reports its analysis that last year saw a record number of UK newspaper editorials opposing climate action – almost exclusively from right-leaning titles.

Activists Call for Process ‘Overhaul’ After Oil Industry Veteran Confirmed to Lead COP29. Inside Climate News reports Azerbaijan has named a former state oil executive as the summit’s president, marking the second consecutive year a fossil fuel insider will helm the U.N. climate talks. Climate advocates call it an “enormous conflict of interest.”

Monday 8 January 2024

Ministerial answer on new oil helps our case, say Balcombe campaigners. DrillOrDrop reports that campaigners challenging well testing in the West Sussex village of Balcombe believe their case has been helped by a minister’s recent admission on production from new oil fields.

Oil from new licences ‘would make little difference’ to UK energy security. Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit finds oil extraction from the UK Continental Shelf (mostly the North Sea) is becoming less and less important for UK energy independence and security, and new licences for drilling in UK waters would make little difference. Reported by DrillOrDrop and the Independent.

Alok Sharma: I won’t back UK government’s oil and gas bill. The chair of COP26 in Glasgow said the bill on oil and gas licences reinforces “unfortunate perception about UK rowing back from climate action”, the Guardian reports. BBC News reports Sir Alok’s comments on the Today programme that annual licensing rounds a “total distraction” and the bill “frankly changes nothing”.

Oil and gas executives leaned on to support controversial UK North Sea oil bill. The FT reports the UK government leaned on oil industry executives to voice support for its North Sea oil legislation ahead of an imminent House of Commons vote.

Debate on oil and gas licensing delayed. The second reading of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill is delayed because previous statements and debates used up the time allotted. The government says the bill will return to the Commons in a couple of weeks.

Angus Energy 4th quarter production. Angus Energy announced gas volumes from the Saltfleetby field in Lincolnshire were 7.35mm therms for October-December 2023. This compared with 7.9mm therms in the third quarter. The fourth quarter included a planned 6-day shutdown in October for maintenance and repairs to a compressor engine. There were other interventions in November and December, the company said.

Global heating will pass 1.5C threshold this year, top ex-Nasa scientist says. The Guardian reports comments by James Hansen that the limit will be passed ‘for all practical purposes’ by May though other experts predict that will happen in 2030s

Sunday 7 January 2024

Jeremy Hunt’s net zero target claims criticised by climate advisers. The Guardian reports the chancellor has been criticised by the head of the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) over his assurances that the government can still meet its climate targets while allowing companies to extract more oil and gas from the North Sea.

Polluted politics: The fossil fuel lobby at Holyrood. Friends of the Earth Scotland reports there were 790 meetings between the fossil fuel industry and the Scottish Parliament since 2018.

Friday 5 January 2024

Chris Skidmore: Conservative MP quits over more oil and gas licences. DrillOrDrop reports the former energy minister, Chris Skidmore, has resigned over new legislation to offer more offshore oil and gas licences, prompting another by-election.

Oil company accused of “clutching at tea leaves” to avoid restoring Broadford Bridge site. DrillOrDrop reports opponents of oil drilling in the Sussex Weald are calling on councillors to refuse plans to delay restoration of the Broadford Bridge oil site. Broadford Bridge Action Group accused the company of “clutching at tea leaves” because it said it was considering generating geothermal heat from the well for commercial agricultural, including tea growing.

Oil industry veteran to lead next round of Cop climate change summit. The Guardian reports that Mukhtar Babayev is named president-in-waiting of UN climate summit to be held in November.

Thursday 4 January 2024

UK government admits Rosebank oil will not be kept in UK to boost energy security. The Guardian reports the UK government has admitted that oil from new North Sea fields, including the controversial Rosebank field, will be sold on the international market rather than to UK consumers. Parliamentary question by Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle and answered by Amanda Solloway, DESNZ.

Oil prices surge as tensions rise in the Middle East. The Times reports oil prices have risen sharply amid fears that mounting tensions in the Middle East could disrupt global supplies.

Is 2024 going to be the first full year to breach 1.5C of warming? The Guardian reports on forecasts that suggest 2024 is likely to be another record breaker, after 2023, with a strong possibility that this could be the first full year to go beyond 1.5C of warming.

Wednesday 3 January 2024

Time for tea? Could mothballed West Sussex oil well provide heat for tea production? DrillOrDrop reports on how a suspended oil site in West Sussex, where no work has been carried out for nearly six years, could supply geothermal heat for farming, including tea production, according to new plans.

Analysis: UK electricity from fossil fuels drops to lowest level since 1957. CarbonBrief analysis reveals the amount of UK electricity generated from fossil fuels fell 22% year-on-year in 2023 to the lowest level since 1957.

Big carmakers lobbied UK to weaken or delay electric car rules. The Guardian reports several of the world’s biggest carmakers lobbied the UK government to try to weaken or delay rules to accelerate electric car sales and cut Britain’s carbon emissions.

Tuesday 2 January 2024

Wressle reserves upgraded. DrillOrDrop reports on increased expectations for the Wressle oil field in North Lincolnshire.

UK onshore oil and gas production in charts – October 2023. DrillOrDrop reports that UK onshore gas volumes in October rose with increased production from Saltfleetby. But onshore oil fell for the third consecutive month with lower output at Wytch Farm and a well workover at Wressle.

Fossil fuels fall to 35% of Britain’s electricity supply. The Times reports that fossil fuel generation fell to an all-time low in 2023, accounting for only 35 per cent of Britain’s electricity mix, down from 43 per cent in 2022, according to analysis of data from Drax Electric Insights by Iain Staffell, of Imperial College London, shows. Also reported by the Guardian on 3/1/24

UK weather: 2023 was second warmest year on record, says Met Office. BBC News reports the findings that 2023 was just behind 2022, which recorded an average temperature of 0.06C higher.

Monday 1 January 2024

2 onshore oil and gas wells drilled in 2023 – official data. DrillOrDrop’s annual look back on who drilled where in the previous 12 months. The 2023 figures were the second lowest in the past 23 years.