The Environment Agency has issued a permit variation to Angus Energy, which operates the Brockham oil site.

This will allow the operator to re-inject waste water, which must be from its operations at Brockham, into one of the existing boreholes on the site.

This decision follows public consultation that took place between 29 December 2021 and 31 January 2022. Having reviewed the responses, the Environment Agency decided to approve the application.

See further information on the application published for the consultation.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

In deciding whether or not to issue this permit variation, the Environment Agency took into account all relevant considerations and legal requirements.

An environmental permit sets out stringent conditions that all oil and gas sites must adhere to. We will not issue an environmental permit for a site if we consider that activities taking place will cause significant pollution to the environment or harm to human health.

Further information

It is a condition of the permit variation that the waste water to be re-injected must originate from operations at Brockham oil site. This condition is made clear in the Decision Document and in the introductory note of the permit.

Until the operators have a Radioactive Substances Regulation bespoke permit, they cannot accept produced water from outside Brockham oil site.

Information on how the Environment Agency determines applications, the timescales involved and how onshore oil and gas is regulated, can be found at:

• Onshore oil and gas regulation - information page
• Onshore oil and gas sector guidance

Public consultations

Further information on how when and how the Environment Agency consults on permit applications and standard rules for environmental permits, can be found at:

• Environmental permits: when and how we consult

Existing environmental permits at Brockham

Angus Energy is currently the holder of a number of environmental permits issued by the Environment Agency in accordance with the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The current permitted activities at Brockham oil site allow the undertaking of the following activities:

• the loading, unloading, handling or storage of, or the physical, chemical or thermal treatment of crude oil
• storage of additional raw materials
• use of diesel generator for on-site electricity
• flaring of gas for emergency only
• combustion of produced gas in an engine with a rated thermal input of 0.93 megawatts
• use of oil-fired bath heater for oil/water separation
• discharge of surface water from non-process areas of the site.
• the management of extractive waste from production activities, not involving a waste facility
• the management of extractive waste generated by well workover
• the management of extractive waste generated by well decommissioning
• storage of radioactive waste on site prior its disposal off site (a standard rules radioactive substances permit)