South East

Oil prices have soared – and the returns now outweigh the risks.

With demand for oil at an all time high, international fuel companies are looking far and wide for any untapped black gold.

There’s money to be made and the big players are moving in to investigate oil and gas production in the South East of England.

Kent’s black gold?

Millions of years ago the Kent countryside was completely underwater, filled with animal and plant life.

Texas style? An oil well head in action.

Several millions of years later those animals and plants formed oil and gas - and it’s this natural resource that oil companies are interested in today. 

The gamble comes in searching for the oil. It costs a fortune  - up to £5 million - just to drill for oil with no guarantee of success.

But companies are looking in the South East, and if they find it, a village like Goudhurst, could become the proud owner of an oil field.

Interest in oil and gas is also being shown in Cowden, Heathfield, Sevenoaks, Brands Hatch and East Kent.

Oil barons or a heavy price?

But what’s that going to mean to the people of Kent?

Could some people find themselves oil millionaires overnight?

Or could Kent pay a price with its landscape scarred by the heavy machinery, pipelines and lorries of an industry that is notoriously secretive?

None of the five oil companies Inside Out approached would or could speak on camera.

So to find out the answers we headed to places where oil and gas exploration is already a part of life to speak to those people directly affected. 

Striking it rich?

Lincolnshire has a number of micro oil field with a couple of pumps and a few tanks to hold the oil.

Could Kent be the new Dallas?

The device that brings the oil out of the ground is known as a nodding donkey - and Kent could witness many more of these if the oil companies find the oil they’re expecting.

Some locals have welcomed the oil companies including resident Linda McCree who doesn't understand why people so nervous?

She says, "People don’t like change."

In Nottinghamshire we spoke to Mike Waterhouse whose family have farmed in the area for generations.

He’s grown up with nodding donkeys but Mike doesn’t make enormous profits because the oil and gas are owned by the Crown, not by the landowner.

"I’m no JR and I don’t live at Southfork," he told Inside Out.

Drilling for oil and gas

Back in the 1920s the Government divided the country up into blocks and then began awarding licences to drill these areas.

Recently companies have been buying up blocks in Kent and East Sussex.

Could oil spark a boom in Kent?

Once the companies have got the licences to explore, the first thing they will do is a seismic survey.

It’s not just oil, but also gas that can be found from drilling - and this can also be found in Kent’s coal bed.

These coal beds have been untouched and hold what is known as coal bed methane gas.

The firm who’s keen to get it is the Coastal Oil and Gas company which believes that it could find enough gas in Kent to provide energy for up to a million homes for 20 years.

And that could mean power stations.

But the company claims locals won’t find their villages under siege - these new power stations won’t be the size of Dungeness, they’ll be much smaller.

Winners and losers

Cowden in Sussex could be the first micro gas field in the South East of England.

Dr Robert Jones, an executive at Warwick Energy which owns the site, says that the oil developments won’t look or sound bad, or cause disruption for local communities.

But Graham Warren from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) believes that just looking for oil or gas could cause serious damage.

He thinks that there are significant risks to waterways and to wildlife from oil spills and gas explosions.

In his view the very process of looking for oil or gas could cause irreversible damage.

But the oil and gas companies say that they work closely with experts to ensure the environment is protected.

The CPRE isn’t convinced it’s enough.

Game of chance

In the South East of England oil and gas development is a game of chance for everyone.

Investment or scarred landscape?

Opinion is also divided on whether local oil and gas extraction could mean a drop in local energy and petrol bills.

The oil and gas industry has always courted controversy because the huge financial rewards could come at an environmental price.

Oil and gas exploration is a gamble for everyone but there’s one thing you can be sure of - an oil company will always bet on the black stuff.