Drilling Rig From Broadford Bridge Fracking Site Occupied While Stopped At Services
Additional Information
For answers to some of the wider questions being studious ignored by the mainstream media see:
British Drilling And Freezing Rig 28 Used At The Broadford Bridge Fracking Site Stopped At Pease Pottage Services On M23 (J11) (Click To Enlarge)
A drilling rig targeting shale/tight oil at the Broadford Bridge fracking site near in Billingshurst, West Sussex, has been caught on the move while stopped at the Pease Pottage service station on the M23 (Junction 11) to the south of Crawley. This marks a significant expansion in resistance to fracking in the Weald Basin, while threatens not only the local community in Billingshurst but the whole of South East England.
Fracking company UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG) has drilled a test well at the site into the Kimmeridge Clay shale formation, and is now pushing forward with plans to flow test the well for unconventional tight/shale oil. This is data gathering to support attempts to finance much larger plans to frack whole swaths of Sussex and Surrey. Exploitation of tight oil would mean drilling hundreds or thousands of wells across large areas of Sussex and Surrey.
Drilling Rig From Broadford Bridge Fracking Site Occupied At Pease Pottage Services On M23 (J11) (Click To Enlarge)
These developments are part of a plan to frack the Weald, coating a large part of Sussex and Surrey, in thousands of wells at typical densities of 4-8 wells per square mile. The companies presently involved do not have the billions needed for this however, and are currently involved in gathering data to facilitate such investment. If this creeping drilling and testing is not vigorously resisted the consequences for communities across Sussex and Surrey will be dire. The address of the currently active site is Adversane Lane, West Chiltington, Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 9EB. Please come down to the site if you can.
UKOG has drilled test well into the Kimmeridge Clay shale formation which has previously been targeted at Balcombe, Horse Hill and Brockham. The Kimmeridge Clay shale layer is the main unconventional oil target in the Weald Basin, but the deeper Lias shale is also a potential target for exploitation.
See Fracking The Weald: The Growing Tight Oil Threat for more details. If you would like to take action or form a group in your area we can help with a pack of guides and publicity, just email: outreach@frack-off.org. See below for a video outlining the tight oil threat in this region:
