Third Energy - Kirby Misperton (KM8 well) information page

Overview

Regulation of Third Energy’s Kirby Misperton (KM8 well) site

Third Energy hold an environmental permit required for hydraulic fracturing at its KM8 well site. This was issued in April 2016. The permit sets out legally binding conditions for operation covering groundwater, surface water, emissions, safe storage of waste, noise from mining waste and groundwater activities. The permit also includes pre-operational conditions, monitoring and reporting requirements.

There is currently a moratorium on shale gas development in England.

Pre-Operational Conditions

The permit for operations at KM8 granted to Third Energy in April 2016 includes a number of pre-operational conditions that have to be met before the operator can carry out the hydraulic fracturing operations.

Pre-operational condition 2 requires our approval of a written Hydraulic Fracture Plan. This plan sets out how the operator will control and monitor the fracturing process. Pre-operational condition 3 requires approval of an Emissions Monitoring Plan.

Hydraulic Fracturing Plan

Waste Management Plan

Emissions monitoring plan

Additional information

Compliance Report pre-op2

Compliance Report pre-op2 questions

Compliance Report pre-op3

Compliance Report Waste Management Plan

Waste Management Plan letter

This page is intended to provide information on the KM8 well site operations only. All other public register information on Third Energy permits is held at our Leeds office and can be accessed by appointment. 

Ambient air monitoring

We carried out an ambient air monitoring study at Kirby Misperton between 23 August 2017 and 11 October 2018. The objective of the study was to establish the pre-existing air-quality, or baseline concentrations, before operational activities commenced at the Kirby Misperton wellsite, and to identify any existing sources. 

In September 2023 we established that we had misinterpreted how the model of analyser that we used to monitor hydrogen sulphide (H2S) emissions in this study should have been calibrated. This means that the H2S data which appears in monitoring report, and some of the conclusions drawn from it, have greater uncertainty than previously understood. Conclusions relating to H2S source apportionment remain valid but absolute values should not be used. It is only the data for H2S that is affected by this issue. The data for all other parameters measured as part of this study are unaffected.

As mentioned above the monitoring undertaken was gathering background data and not emissions from an operational activity. A revised emissions monitoring report (version 2) is provided below.

What happens next

We will update this page with any new information related to our role.