Companies behind plans in East Yorkshire for a £2.5m lower-volume frack, well test and data centre study have given notice of preparation work.

The news came in a formal statement by the majority owner, Reabold Resources, released this morning (9 September 2026).

The work is planned for the West Newton-A well site in Holderness. Reabold, which holds an almost 80% stake, said:

“preparatory work for the planned recompletion, stimulation and test programme at the West Newton A-2 well will commence shortly”.

The site operator, Rathlin Energy updated its website yesterday (8 September 2026), saying:

• Plans were “being progressed” on the lower-volume frack and test plans
• Work was targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 (as announced in June 2026) if well completion and test contractors were available
• A community benefit scheme would be set up

The local campaign group, West Newton Said No, said this morning:

“Our monitors will be keeping a close eye on anything that happens and will take any and all actions it deems necessary to protect our precious aquifer and local communities.”

See full statement below from West Newton Said No

Data centre plans

Previous Reabold statements said gas extracted from West Newton could be used to generate electricity to run a bitcoin mining operation.

For the first time, Reabold said today a feasibility study was underway for a data centre on the West Newton site.

It said:

“The Company believes that West Newton’s onshore location, scale and proximity to existing grid and transport infrastructure make it well suited to such applications, and further updates will be provided as this work progresses.”

Stephen Williams, Reabold’s co-chief executive, said:

“It is particularly exciting that a study is underway to assess the feasibility of co-locating data centre infrastructure at site, which would be powered by West Newton’s natural gas, offering a uniquely positioned “behind-the-meter” development solution for digital infrastructure in the UK.

“The UK is experiencing a significant acceleration in demand for digital infrastructure, driven by AI and the growing digital economy for which securing and scalable, affordable and reliable power has become a key constraint.

“We believe West Newton has the potential to provide reliable power generation, creating an additional value pathway alongside the project’s existing traditional natural gas development plans.”

Other details

Rathlin Energy said plans were “being progressed” for the proposed lower-volume frack, described as a well stimulation, and the well test, due to last up to a year

The West Newton-A project also requires the construction of passing places on the access road, Pasture Lane.

Rathlin confirmed that Pasture Lane would be closed for about four weeks from mid-September 2026.

Reabold said in its statement that authorities for expenditure had been issued for the highways work and procurement of long-lead items, including speciality chemicals.

It also said final engineering activities and award of contracts were currently underway. It said:

“Subject to the completion of these preparatory activities, the well will be recompleted, followed by a period of testing.”

Rathlin Energy said the North Sea Transition Authority had approved its applications for the lower volume frack and well test.

The company also restated that the hydraulic fracture plan had been approved by the NSTA and Environment Agency (EA).

The EA’s decision to permit the fracture operation is the subject of a legal challenge by local campaigner, Peter Lomas.

• At the time of writing, there has been no statement today on West Newton from Union Jack Oil, the other investor in the operation. Union Jack is the subject of a takeover bid from Reabold Resources. Union Jack shareholders recently voted to remove the entire board . The new directors are due to make a statement this week. Union Jack issued a statement at 10.50am.

Reaction

The campaign group, West Newton Said No, issued a statement this morning:

“Today’s RNS [regulatory news service statement] from Reabold comes as no surprise, following the rebuttal by shareholders over at Union Jack Oil for a takeover of their company. We see this as just another can kicking excercise by the industry and an attempt to bully UJO [Union Jack] into selling up.

“This farcical story has continued for years, and what’s even more farcical is that now Reabold are talking about using the gas, which has never been proved to flow at any rate, let alone commercial rates to power AI data centres, a change from its originally proposed bitcoin mining farms.

“The planning condition to construct passing places on Pasture Lane where originally planned for construction in August, these were scrapped.

“West Newton Said No will be actively campaigning for the liaison group to reject any community fund. It’s just another bribe to placate the local communities and has been used as a weapon worldwide, take the money and if anything untoward happens your gagged.

“A question needs to be answered here, if they plan on constructing a data centre, and if they ever get permission, which is highly doubtful , do they plan on abstraction of our clean fresh drinking water from our irreplaceable chalk aquifer to cool it ?

“Our monitors will be keeping a close eye on anything that happens and will take any and all actions it deems necessary to protect our precious aquifer and local communities.”