The UK’s second largest onshore oil producer is seeking permission to refine gas and carry out small-scale fracking.

Operators of the Wressle site, near Scunthorpe, want to refine more than 1,000 tonnes of gas a year and improve the flow of oil with proppant squeeze operations.

Egdon Resources, now owned by the US company Heyco, also wants to drill two more wells on an extended pad and export refined gas by pipeline to the national network.

The company has applied to the Environment Agency to vary Wressle’s permit. A public consultation on the permit changes is now underway and closes on 30 December 2024.

The application, accompanied by nearly 70 documents, can be viewed online. Responses can be made online, by email (pscpublicresponse@environment-agency.gov.uk) or by phone (03708 506 506).

The non-technical summary, which is part of the application, sets out the proposed activities at the Wressle site:

Gas refining: The permit variation, if approved, would allow Wressle to refine 1,000 tonnes or more of gas in a 12-month period. Currently, the gas is used to generate electricity for the site or is flared. Official data shows that Wressle has flared an average of 257 Ksm3 (thousand standard cubic meters) a month since production officially began in July 2022.  

Drilling and small-scale fracking: The plans include drilling two new boreholes, to be known as Wressle-2 and Wressle-3. The operator may also carry out proppant squeeze operations to increase production rates. This is the injection of fluid and proppant into the new boreholes and is regarded by the Environment Agency as small-scale hydraulic fracturing.

Extension: The site and containment ditches would be extended from the southern boundary

The new activities may need variations to the mining waste, water discharge and groundwater activity sections of the permit.

The Wressle site is the UK’s second largest onshore oil producer, after Wytch Farm, in Dorset. It produced an average of 2,589m3 a month since production began officially. Using data released this week, the site contributed 3.31% of UK onshore oil and 0.07% of total UK oil production.

The changes proposed for Wressle need planning permission, as well as variations to the environmental permit.

North Lincolnshire Council approved the site’s planning application in September 2024. But the permission was quashed in November 2024. This followed a Supreme Court judgement which decided that applications for hydrocarbon production must take into account climate emissions from the use of oil or gas. The Wressle decision was judged to be unlawful because it didn’t do this.

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