21 Bloomsbury
Street
London WC1B 3HF
Emily Mott
By email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx and
request-722564-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our ref: FOI-2021-0005 and FOI-2021-0006
26 February 2021
Dear Ms Mott,
Thank you for your two emails of
29 January and 1 February 2021, in which you requested:
“Please can you tell me the total amount/ tonnage of gases released by flaring and venting from all the onshore oil and gas
sites in the UK per year for five years from 2014-2019.
Please list total amount of emissions per year separately.
Out of the total, do you know how much methane is released ?
Please itemise the kinds of VOCs other than CO2 which you are measuring.“
(FOI-2021-0005)
And
“I noticed that PEDL126(Markwells Wood) is listed as an asset in UKOG's portfolio. UKOG announced to shareholders that
it had abandoned the site back in January 2019. Additionally, PEDL126 is missing on the OGA map and does not appear
as a licensed or unlicensed area.
If UKOG still owns PEDL126 as an asset, an you please send a record of license fee payments by from 2018-present.
If UKOG does not own the license please can you tell me when it was relinquished?
Can the OGA confirm whether the PEDL itself has now been permanently withdrawn by the OGA or whether it will stiIl be
available to future operators?”
(FOI-2021-0006)
We have considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (
FOIA) and,
where relevant, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
(EIR).
I shall answer your questions in turn:
(FOI-2021-0005)
Please can you tell me the total amount/ tonnage of gases released by flaring and venting
from all the onshore oil and gas sites in the UK per year for five years from 2014-2019.
Please list total amount of emissions per year separately.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has now published field level flaring and venting
information (which includes onshore fields) on our open data site here:
https://data-
ogauthority.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/oga-field-production-pprs-wgs84
This should contain the information to satisfy your query.
Section 21 FOIA and Regulation 6(1) EIR (Information available via other means).
As this information is already available in the public domain, we are declining to further
provide it under Section 21 FOIA and Regulation 6(1) EIR.
The Oil and Gas Authority is a limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 09666504 and VAT registered number 249433979. Our
registered office is at 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, United Kingdom, WC1B 3HF. For information about how we process data and monitor communications please see
our Privacy Statement and for terms of use please see our Terms and Conditions, both available on our website.
Public Interest
Section 21 is an absolute exemption and therefore no consideration of the public interest is
required.
Out of the total, do you know how much methane is released?
The OGA do not hold this data
Please itemise the kinds of VOCs other than CO2 which you are measuring.
The OGA do not hold this data
(FOI-2021-0006)
I noticed that PEDL126(Markwells Wood) is listed as an asset in UKOG's portfolio. UKOG
announced to shareholders that it had abandoned the site back in January 2019.
Additionally, PEDL126 is missing on the OGA map and does not appear as a licensed or
unlicensed area.
If UKOG still owns PEDL126 as an asset, an you please send a record of license fee
payments by from 2018-present.
If UKOG does not own the license please can you tell me when it was relinquished?
Can the OGA confirm whether the PEDL itself has now been permanently withdrawn by the
OGA or whether it will stiIl be available to future operators?
We can confirm that PEDL126 was relinquished on 30th April 2020.
As PEDL126 was relinquished, the area is not currently licensed for oil and gas activity
including exploration or production. However it remains possible that the area (or parts of
the area) which were within that licence could be offered in future licensing rounds or be the
subject of out-of-round licence applications.
Please note that the OGA cannot speculate on future out-of-round licence applications that
may encompass this area, or the outcome of any future licence rounds.
This concludes the OGA’s handling of your request.
Appeals Procedure
If you are unhappy with the way the OGA has handled your request, you may request an
internal review. A request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of
the date of receipt of the response to your request and should be addressed to: FOI
Manager, Oil and Gas Authority, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx Please quote the reference number above in any future
communications with regard to this request.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the internal review, you may contact the Information
Commissioner at
www.ico.org.uk or at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer.
The Oil and Gas Authority is a limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 09666504 and VAT registered number 249433979. Our
registered office is at 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, United Kingdom, WC1B 3HF. For information about how we process data and monitor communications please see
our Privacy Statement and for terms of use please see our Terms and Conditions, both available on our website.