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Hunt is on for 'black gold' in Garden of England

Oil derricks could be seen in Kent

An oil company prospecting for “black gold” in the Sussex hills also has a licence to explore Kent for deposits of the fossil fuel.

This could spark an oil rush in the countryside of the Garden of England.

With prices of crude oil rocketing, Northern Petroleum is exploring any new reserves and has already targeted an area of the South Downs in West Sussex.

Now the company is carrying out exploratory work to see if deposits can be located in this county and should any be discovered the licence means they can be extracted.

West Sussex County Council last week voted to allow the oil barons to chop down an area of woodland and build a 120ft high drilling rig.

Council officers said they felt there was an “over-riding need” for oil exploration within this country.

And it this means deposits worth a massive £12 billion could fuel company profits – the first stage in a potential large-scale drilling project in the South East.

A statement from Northern Petroleum reads: “(The company) have a Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence in Kent. At present we are still doing in-house geological and geophysical work on these areas, and it is too premature as to where and when we may drill”.

But the company added they are very keen on exploring reserves within the UK borders as the global price for oil has rocketed and supplies from countries such as those in the Middle East and Eastern Europe can be irregular.

The Sussex site is at Markwells Wood near Chichester and is estimated to contain the equivalent of 200 million barrels of fuel – potentially worth £12 billion.

Richard Latham – the real life equivalent of TV’s Dallas star JR Ewing – is chairman of Northern Petroleum.

Amidst opposition to the drilling from environmentalists he has vowed to do all he can to protect the countryside.

The company has already agreed to plant more woodland round the site – which will be concreted – and return it to its original state when the operations are finished.

But Alice Farr of the Woodland Trust still called the drilling “an act of vandalism” – even though no objections came from the Environment Agency or Natural England.

The southern area of England, because of its limestone and sandstone base rock, is a perfect place for large oil deposits to be formed.

The law currently allows exploration for valuable fuels in any area – even national parks – if the benefits to the country are thought to be sufficient.

In the event of oil being successfully extracted for refining the Treasury would receive around 50 per cent of the proceeds with the oil companies pocketing the rest.

See all the latest video clips from your village, town or city on our new Your Kent TV service. Simply log on to YourKentTV.co.uk.

POSTED: 19/05/2008 07:00:00

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Comments:

Added: Monday 19/05/2008 07:06:02 UK

I hope that some provision has been made to ensure that the residents get something out of any find, just a £0.01 per barrel leavy would put a huge sum in the local coffers.

Ian Johnson, Ramsgate, England

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