The Wressle oil site in North Lincolnshire has been given consent for a larger gas engine to generate electricity.

The Environment Agency (EA) has announced changes to the site’s environmental permit.

This allows the operator, Egdon Resources, to flow gas produced alongside the oil into a 4.7MW engine.

The site previously had permission for a 2MW generator.

The electricity produced from the new engine would meet future power demand at Wressle when formation pressure fell and mechanical lifting was needed, the EA said. The electricity could also be used by another business, it said.

The EA said emissions from the engine would not affect any site of nature conservation, landscape and heritage, and/or protected species or habitats. Natural England, the government’s nature conservation advisor, was not consulted, the EA said.

An air quality assessment predicted no significant effect, the EA said, but annual monitoring for oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide would be required as a condition of the permit.

Official data reports show the flare at Wressle has burned more than 5,000ksm3 (thousand cubic meters) of gas produced alongside the oil from July 2022 to August 2023

The larger engine was phase 2 of a project to maximise the use of gas at Wressle.

In phase 1, three micro turbines were installed last year (2023) to generate electricity for the site. They would replace the need for a diesel generator and would reduce the amount of gas being flared, the EA said.

The volume flared gas at Wressle fell from July-October 2023. But this coincided with work on the Wressle-1 well. An artificial lift aimed to increase pressure within the reservoir.

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