Plans to drill for gas and carry out small-scale fracturing near a North Yorkshire village have been published, eight months after they were first announced.

Europa Oil & Gas plc has applied to build a wellsite at Burniston, in the heritage coast and near the North York Moors National Park.

The company’s planning application has now been published online by North Yorkshire Council. A public consultation has not yet been announced.

The application contains 46 documents and nearly 85MB of electronic information. The main planning statement runs to 78 pages and the environmental statement comprises four volumes and more than 250 pages. There are 18 maps and plans.

Some of the details were previously unveiled when Europa informed the council about its plans in July 2024. See DrillOrDrop articles here and here.

The company has estimated there is potentially 163 billion cubic feet of gas in the carboniferous sandstone below the Burniston area.

Small-scale fracturing

The most controversial part of the application is Europa’s plan to carry out a small-scale form of hydraulic fracturing, known as proppant squeeze.

This operation pumps fluid and a proppant, such as sand, into rocks surrounding a well to create fractures that allow oil or gas to flow more freely.

There is a moratorium in England on associated hydraulic fracturing – the form of fracking for shale gas that uses large volumes of fluid.

But proppant squeeze uses smaller volumes, below the legal limit, and is not covered by the moratorium.

Local people have described the operation as “fracking under another name” and argued that proppant squeeze is exploiting a legal loophole.

In September 2024, more than 100 people attended an information meeting , many concerned about the fracturing proposal.

The Scarborough and Whiby MP, Alison Hume, and the elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith, have opposed the plans.

If the scheme is approved, site construction would last about seven weeks.

A 38m high drilling rig would be installed on the site for about seven weeks.

The proppant squeeze would last about a week and be part of a 17-week testing phase.

Europa considers proppant squeeze to be a safe and established technique.

It said the operation would create fractures up to 200m laterally either side of wellbore and up to 80m vertically.

According to the application, it would use up to 500m of fluid and up to 80 tonnes of proppant, made from ceramic beads, for each proppant squeeze.

The fluid would be pumped at a surface pressure of 5,000-6,500psi (pounds per square inch) for about two hours. The application does not say how many separate proppant squeeze operations would be carried out.

More detail would be given in a Hydraulic Fracture Plan, that would have to be approved the industry regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive.

Gas produced after the proppant squeeze would be assessed for pressure, quality and composition. It would be burned in a 12m flare on the site.

Europa has stressed it is not looking for shale gas. Its planning application said:

“The Proposed Development will not result in any notable adverse environmental or amenity impacts.”

It said the proposal would “deliver modest but positive economic and social impacts for the local community”. It would also comply with national planning policy, the company said.

Other details

DrillOrDrop has previously reported on details of the Burniston plans, including the proposed phases of the project. Here’s a quick summary:

Planning application number: NY/2025/0030/ENV link

Site address: Mill Yard, Burniston Mill, Coastal Road (A165), Burniston

Location: in the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast and 800m from the boundary of the North Yorks Moors National Park.

Traffic: the application said the proposal would generate a total of 1,154 journeys by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), maximum of 18 journeys in any one day.

Employment: the application estimated the project would 24 fulltime and 26 parttime staff across all the phases.

Drilling and flow testing: 24-hours a day, 7 days a week

Target geology: Carboniferous sandstones

• DrillOrDrop will report soon on the debate over the definition of fracking

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