Last updated 16/11/2023

Key facts

Address: Wytch Farm Oilfield and Gathering Station, Thrashers Lane, Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5JR

Planning applications: Multiple applications between the late 1970s and 2023

Operator: Perenco

Licence: PL89

Status: Western Europe’s and the UK’s largest onshore oilfield. It contributes about 80% of the UK’s onshore oil production but extraction volumes have been declining since a peak in the late 1990s.

Timeline

1 September 2023

Dorset Council approves planning application for a sidetrack injection well at Wytch Farm’s wellsite M. Details

1 August 2023

Monthly oil production figures for Wytch Farm show that volumes in May 2023 have returned to normal levels after the pipeline leak. Details

1 July 2023

Monthly oil production figures for Wytch Farm reveal a big drop in April 2023 following the pipeline leak. Details

25 May 2023

Approval of solid oxide fuel cell at Wytch Farm Gathering Station. Details.

27 April 2023

Campaigners and Dorset residents call for tougher measures against Perenco, including an end to extraction at Wytch Farm, after the pipeline leak in Poole Harbour. Details

29 March 2023

Environment minister, Lord Benyon, tells peers that Perenco would be held responsible for any damage from the leak from its pipeline. Details

26 March 2023

Major incident declared at Poole Harbour in Dorset after a leak from a pipeline from the Wytch Farm oil field. Details

26 August 2021

Wytch Farm operator, Perenco, loses more than £101m – company accounts. Details

6 September 2013

Dorset County Council approves extension of planning permission at Wytch Farm, Wareham and Kimmeridge until 2037.

September 2012

Perenco applies to Dorset County Council for permission to extend the life of 39 planning permissions for Wytch Farm, as well as Wareham and Kimmeridge.

17 May 2011

BP announces the sale of its majority interest in Wytch Farm, Wareham, Beacon and Kimmeridge fields to Perenco, which becomes the new operator.

March 1979

Formal oil production begins.

17 October 1978

Approval of first Wytch Farm planning application. Details

December 1973

British Gas Corporation discovers the Wytch Farm oil field.