Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd holds an environmental permit for the management of mining wastes, storage of crude oil, and flaring of waste gas from the drilling and testing of wells at its West Newton ‘A’ well site. This was issued in April 2014 and varied in August 2019 and April 2020.
The permit was varied again in August 2023 to drill additional oil and gas wells and carry out commercial production.
The permit sets out legally binding conditions for operation covering emissions, safe storage of waste and crude oil, and flaring of gas. The permit also includes monitoring and reporting requirements.
The company submitted an application to vary its permit to allow additional activities. We consulted on the proposed permit changes in 2021/2022 and 2023. We looked at documents submitted by the operator in detail, as well as all consultation responses.
The Permit and Decision Document can be viewed here.
In assessing this permit variation, we completed a detailed and rigorous assessment of Rathlin Energy's application. We ensure that the operating techniques and control measures at the proposed facility comply with the legal requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations – which are in place to protect people and the environment.
The Decision Document explains how we have considered the applicant’s application, and why we have included the specific conditions in the permit we are proposing to issue to the applicant. It is our record of our decision-making process, to show how we have taken into account all relevant factors in reaching our position.
Before we finalised our decision, we reviewed and considered all representations received during the consultation on the proposed decision. The way we have taken these into account is shown in the 'Consultation Responses' section of the Decision Document, however our preliminary conclusions have not changed in the final decision.
We have assessed the environmental impacts of the proposed activities falling under the Environmental Permitting Regulations, 2016 SI 1154 (EPR) within this variation application. Wider issues of government policy are outside of the remit of this determination.
Note: The Environment Agency is obliged to determine the environmental permit variation application separately to the planning approval process, but the operator is required to obtain and comply with both planning consent and environmental permit requirements when carrying out operations.
We held a consultation on our proposed permit decision which closed on 5th July 2023. You can find the draft permit decision and associated information on our consultation page here:
We ran a virtual engagement event on 16th December 2021 to answer your questions on our role in determining the environmental permit at this site. A copy of the questions and answers can be found below in 'related documents'.
A recording of the event is available to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cGyTyNINMmc
We will update this page with information from our West Newton ‘A’ audits and site inspections. Previously, this information would only have been held at our offices on the Public Register. We hope that this is helpful in making information easier for you to access.
West Newton 'A' Wellsite
Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd
Fosham Road
Marton
Hull
East Yorkshire
HU11 5DA
We update this web page with new information. We hope that this is helpful in making information easier for you to access.
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