An American-owned hydrocarbon company is backing plans for gas production in the North York Moors National Park, it was revealed today.

Egdon Resources, now controlled by the Texas-based Heyco Energy Group, is supporting the development of the Ebberston South well site near Dalby Forest.

Egdon staff and consultants were at an exhibition on the plans this afternoon, held in the small North Yorkshire village of Ebberston (population about 600).

Egdon previously submitted official information on the Ebberston South plans, on behalf of Scarborough Energy, the company fronting the proposal.

Scarborough Energy was formed four years ago for the sole purpose of producing gas from Ebberston South, its staff said today.

It has no other projects and has not held an onshore hydrocarbon licence or operated an onshore hydrocarbon site.

The meeting revealed that Egdon was providing technical and financial support to Scarborough Energy, including on the submission of a planning application.

It also emerged that Egdon had an option to acquire part of Scarborough Energy if the Ebberston South proposal secured planning permission. The acquisition could range from 1% to 100%, we were told.

The licence to operate gas production at Ebberston South, PEDL120, is currently held by a subsidiary of Ineos Upstream. But Scarborough Energy said it would acquire the licence from Ineos, again if planning permission were granted.

The industry regulator was “happy” for the licence transfer to happen, Scarborough Energy said.

Ebberston South is an existing gas site, at Givendale Head Farm, about three miles north of Ebberston village.

A single well was drilled and tested in 2008-9 by Warwick Energy. But the well never went into production and the site has been suspended since then.

Today’s exhibition recorded 14 people in the first hour. Eight people in the room at that time were against the plans and also opposed plans by Europa and Oil & Gas and Egdon to drill and frack for gas in the village of Burniston, about 13 miles (21km) away.

The event was part of a company consultation, also online, that runs until 31 July 2026.

This does not replace the formal public consultation on any planning application, scheduled to be submitted in September 2026.

Exhibition panels below (photos: DrillOrDrop)

Details

Scarborough Energy said it aimed to develop Ebberson South in five stages:

• Reconfigure the existing wellsite and install environmental protection measures and surface aggregates
• Mobilise a workover rig to recomplete the well for long-term production and confirm gas pressures
• Install gas processing facilities and a 1.5km underground pipeline to connect to the Northern Gas Networks’ local transmission system
• Produce gas production for up to seven years
• Return the site to agricultural use after production ends

No further drilling or any form of fracking would be needed, Scarborough Energy said.

The company estimated that Ebberston South would produce an estimated 4 million cubic feet per day for up to seven years. The company said this total represented 85% of Scarborough’s current annual gas consumption.

The gas would go into Northern Gas Networks’ local transmission system, it said.

The exhibition said the site would create “employment and supply chain opportunities” but a company representative admitted that the site would run largely automatically and would require just one member of staff to visit each day.

Groundwater monitoring boreholes would be installed before operations began and sampling would continue during and after all phases, the company said.

A charitable trust would provide grants to local groups from any profits from gas production.

Scarborough Energy said

“Our work to explore for, and produce, the gas the country needs will help to provide the UK with secure energy supplies, reducing the need for imported gas and delivering local and national economic benefits.”

It added:

“Gas from Ebberston South would enter the local network close to where it’s needed at the right pressure and with far fewer steps [than other sources of gas].”

The company did, however, admit that propane would probably have to be added to the supply to make it meet demands of North Gas Networks.

It said gas flows may need to be restricted in summer if demand was low.

It did not mention that water could be produced along with the gas and this would need to be removed and processed. Other impurities would also need to be removed in a processing plant.

The company said its target date for a decision on the proposals was February 2027.

Concerns

Some of the local people attending the exhibition criticised the information as “low on detail and heavy on spin”. Key concerns include:

Company track record

Some people DrillOrDrop spoke were concerned about what would happen if Scarborough Energy got planning permission but went out of business before it could restore the site.

The exhibition described Scarborough Energy “as a responsible operator” that was “committed to the highest standards of health, safety and environmental performance”.

But the company has no other projects apart from its plans for Ebberston South and no track record as an onshore fossil fuel oil and gas licence operator.

Scarborough Energy’s most recent annual accounts recorded net current liabilities of £162,716. There were no details of earnings or income.

The exhibition did, however, note that the founders had experience as petroleum or reservoir engineers and in the gas processing and the transmission network.

Egdon’s owner, Heyco Energy Group, is privately-owned and its corporate value is not publicly disclosed. But its annual revenue has been estimated at $24.4m.

National Park

The Ebberston South pad is within the boundary of the North York Moors National Park.

Some visitors to the exhibition said sites like this should not be allowed in the national park.

Climate change

Several visitors to the exhibition, held on a very hot sunny day, said there should be no more oil and gas extraction because of climate change. One asked a company representative whether he had “any conscience about climate change”. The representative did not reply, the resident said.

Gas destination

Scarborough Energy said if approved any gas produced would be sent through the new pipeline to a connection point on the Northern Gas Networks’ local transmission system. The company said:

“From here it will feed into local homes and businesses”.

But visitors to the exhibition were concerned about where the gas would actually go.

Ebberston village is not on the gas network. A consultant admitted that most of the gas was likely to go to Hull, about 40 miles away (64km) where industry and other large customers would be able to use the gas year round.

Wildlife

The exhibition said preliminary ecology survey has been undertaken and one panel claimed “no species were found on the site, or within the proposed area”.

A member of staff said this should have read “no protected species”. The exhibition said “full surveys” would be repeated before any work began.

The exhibition also said the site would have no “adverse impacts on any statutory or non-statutory designated sites of nature conservation importance located in the wider area”.

One resident, who attended the exhibition, manages two nearby sites of scientific interest, one of which is 400m from the compound. He was concerned about the impact of noise on rare species.

A habitat classification survey map one of the exhibition panels did not identify the nearest SSSI. An aerial photograph suggested that the compound was surrounded by woodland but one resident said part of this woodland had been clear felled in the past few years.

Noise

The exhibition said the loudest noise would be during construction and earth moving, short-term work carried out during daytime hours. It predicted this would range from 37043 dBA, which it said was “well below typical construction noise limits of 65 dBA.

One resident was concerned that the noise levels did not take into account gas processing, which would continue during the production life of the site.

Traffic

One resident raised concerns about the narrow single-track route which marks the final section of access to the site.

He said the route was already used by mountain rescue and traffic visiting a recycling centre.

The exhibition said during production, an average of one heavy goods vehicle (HGV) and one car or light goods vehicle (LGV) would visit the site each day. There were local calls for this to be a maximum not an average.

During the eight weeks of site configuration, there would be a total of 213 cars or LGVs and 155 HGVs. This represented an average of four cars/LGVs and three HGVs visiting the site each day, each making two journeys, in and out.

That number would rise to five cars/LGVs and four HGVs visits a day during the four weeks of well preparation.

During well decommissioning and site restoration, the estimated number would reach an average of six cars/LGVs and eight HGVs visits a day.

The estimated total vehicle visits over the project would be 2,947 cars/LGVs and 1,705 HGVs.

Views and recreation

The exhibition noted that the Tabular Hills footpath runs along the southern boundary of the site. One resident said many visiting walkers and cyclists used this route and would have a view of the site during that part of their route. The exhibition said a 3m earth bund would be built along this side of the site.

A 10m tall enclosed ground flare would be installed on site to burn waste gas. The company said use of the flare would be “limited” because the produced gas would be piped to the transmission system.

The flare may operate for “short periods” to confirm gas pressures during recompletion of the well, the company said. It said there would be no visible flame and the flare would not operate at night.

Heritage

The pipeline is planned to cross part of the Oxmoor Dikes, an ancient earthwork dating back to the bronze age.

No mitigation measures were required, the company said, and archaeological monitoring would be sufficient to record any finds.