Scotland has a government opposed to hydraulic fracturing but not a ban on the completion technique, the Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled.
Ineos Shale, which holds two petroleum exploration and development licenses between Glasgow and Edinburgh, welcomed the ruling even though it represented legal defeat.
The company and Reach Coal Seam Gas, a partner in one of the licenses, filed the case to challenge what they considered to be a ban on hydraulic fracturing imposed last October when Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse told Parliament a moratorium imposed in 2015 would “remain in place indefinitely (OGJ Online, Oct. 3, 2017).”
He said notification to that effect sent to local authorities “is sufficient to effectively ban the development of unconventional oil and gas extraction in Scotland.”
In court, the government argued that it hadn’t imposed a legal prohibition and that Ineos therefore based its request for judicial review on a misunderstanding and should be refused (OGJ Online, May 10, 2017).
The judge, Lord Pentland, agreed.
“What exists at present is an emerging and unfinalized planning policy expressing no support on the part of the Scottish government for the development or extraction of [unconventional oil and gas] in Scotland,” he ruled.
In a statement, Ineos said, “We are in the extraordinary position where a senior judge has effectively concluded that the Scottish government did not know what it was doing.”