Sian Crampsie
Industrial giant Ineos has launched a legal challenge against a decision by the Scottish government to ban the exploration of unconventional oil and gas reserves.
The petrochemicals firm is seeking a judicial review of a recent decision by Scottish ministers to effectively ban the extraction of onshore shale gas reserves using planning laws. It says that the ban is unlawful and that there were “serious errors” in the government’s decision making process.
“The decision in October [2017] was a major blow to Scottish science and its engineering industry, as well as being financially costly to Ineos, other businesses and indeed the nation as a whole,” said Tom Pickering, Operations Director at Ineos Shale. “We have serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban and have therefore applied to the Court to ask that it review the competency of the decision to introduce it.”
The Scottish government has imposed a moratorium on allowing planning consent for the extraction of shale gas reserves, including those that use the controversial technique of fracking.
The decision followed a public consultation on the future of the shale gas industry in Scotland, and is in line with the Scottish government’s policy on clean energy growth and climate change, Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said in October 2017.
However the policy is at odds with Ineos’ strategy, which includes investigating Scotland’s shale gas resources as a potential supply of natural gas feedstock for its petochemical operations.
The firm says that it, and other industrial companies, have invested millions in unconventional development in recent years because of Scotland’s “supportive regulatory and planning backdrop”. Pickering said that the government “cannot simply remove the policy support that attracted that investment in the first place without proper procedures being followed and without the offer of appropriate financial compensation”.