The Scottish Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Fergus Ewing, has welcomed a new report published by an independent Expert Scientific Panel looking at unconventional oil and gas.
The Panel was convened by the Scottish Government in September 2013 to review and report on the scientific facts available on unconventional hydrocarbons.
Mr Ewing said:
“I welcome this report, which is an important contribution to the debate around the potential development of onshore unconventional hydrocarbons.
“The Scottish Government has always been clear that our approach to this issue is evidence-based and this report helps us to do that.….while it is clear from the report that there could be potential for an unconventional hydrocarbon industry in Scotland, the Expert Panel has also identified challenges and areas in the regulatory regime which should be looked at further.”
The Expert Scientific Panel was convened to review the scientific evidence on unconventional oil & gas. The Panel looked at a number of areas of interest, including:
- International context
- The current industry
- The potential in Scotland
- Technical challenges
- Environmental and societal challenges
- Regulation and legislative background
- Public awareness and engagement
The report also builds on the recently-published Scottish Planning Policy, which gave serious consideration to concerns over unconventional oil and gas with five main changes to strengthen planning policy. These include new rules on hydraulic fracturing, which will compel operators to consult with the public, and buffer zones to protect communities which will be assessed by planning authorities and statutory consultees.
Any application for coalbed methane or shale gas projects must comply with the appropriate regulatory regimes, including SEPA’s guidance on the regulation of shale gas and coalbed methane.
The five main changes in the recently published Scottish Planning Policy relating to onshore unconventional oil and gas extraction are:
- Confirmation that the concept of buffer zones should be applied to all proposals for the first time;
- Putting in place an additional requirement for risk assessments to be prepared, using a source-pathway-receptor model, to ensure a transparent and evidence-based approach to assessing whether proposed buffer zones are acceptable;
- Making explicit that buffer zones will be assessed by the planning authority and statutory consultees, with a strong expectation that planning permission should be refused if they are unacceptable;
- Ensuring that operators are upfront about their plans and that communities are consulted on all unconventional gas developments, including close involvement in the risk assessment process;
- Requiring a fresh planning application (and public consultation) if permission was not sought for hydraulic fracturing but developers subsequently intend to undertake this process.
Drilling operations which propose hydraulic fracturing techniques ’fracking’ require an added layer of permissions in the form of a licence under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR license). CAR licences are issued and conditioned by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) who carry out a risk assessment as part of its specific obligations to evaluate risks to the water environment when assessing such applications.
Operators must also provide details of all of the chemical additives proposed to be used in drilling and fracturing fluids to SEPA, who then use this information in their examination of any application for injection, to ensure the substances involved are of a type and at a concentration that will not cause pollution of the water environment.
The Scottish Government will now set up a Working Group to consider the findings of the Expert Scientific Panel’s report in more detail and to ensure regulation of the industry is completely robust. The Government will announce the Chairperson, membership and remit of the Working Group in due course.
Click here to download Expert Scientific Panel Report on Unconventional Oil & Gas
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