Our Case:

The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), a government agency, is required to scrutinise the sale of fracking companies to ensure that the new owners will be able to meet their clean-up costs.  Taxpayers will be left with the bill if the companies cannot pay, but the OGA has said it doesn’t consider that it needs to approve a ‘change of control’ such as this one, and has admitted that it didn’t do any review for the sale of Cuadrilla.

In February 2020 AJ Lucas, an Australian mining company, announced that it had become an majority owner of Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. However, neither AJ Lucas nor Cuadrilla’s other owner, Riverstone, have apparently asked the OGA to approve the sale, as they are required to do under their license. In response to a Freedom of Information request: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/change_of_control_of_edl165?unfold=1#incoming-1541629] , the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) have revealed that they have no information at all relating to this change of control, thus confirming the absence of any regulatory oversight.

Without adequate government scrutiny, companies may spend all their resources drilling and fracking in the quest for profits and then go bust, leaving taxpayers with the bill.  

Without adequate financial assurance, the environmental mess that is left behind when fracking is over can linger and worsen, as the Government tries to sort out whether it can force related companies (like the foreign parent company here) to pay the costs.  We must hold the OGA to account to carry out its legal duty to protect taxpayers and the environment. 

 Please can you help in any small way to raise the necessary funds to support this legal action? Our aim is to raise £7,500 to cover initial legal costs to get the case in motion and lodged in the High Court. Further funds will be necessary to get to a full Judicial Review hearing, so we appreciate anything you can give!

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I am launching a legal challenge against the takeover of Cuadrilla which has resulted in A.J. Lucas owning 93% of Cuadrilla.  

This requires a licensee to obtain consent in writing from the OGA to do ‘anything whatsoever under the law’ which results in a new entity having ultimate control over the license.

There can be no doubt that this transaction amounts to a significant change of control and the operators have failed in their duty to notify the regulator (the Oil & Gas Authority, OGA) of the change. The OGA have similarly failed in their duty, as the regulatory body, to scrutinise the take-over of Cuadrilla by A J Lucas and therefore I believe that the OGA, A.J. Lucas and Cuadrilla have acted unlawfully. If the court decides in our favour, the implications are very serious and could result in a ruling to the OGA to revoke Cuadrilla’s current exploration licences including the site at Preston New Road, Blackpool.

This decision will also help crystallise who is responsible for the decommissioning when a licence is revoked or an operator goes bust. Experts have warned that the Government is not paying enough attention to whether companies will be able to meet their cleanup costs, and that taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill if the OGA does not act prudently to ensure that there are adequate assurances that these costs will be met. For de-commissioning Preston New Road this will be many millions of pounds.

I'd like to thank my legal team- Marc Willers QC at Garden Court Chambers, Estelle Dehon at Cornerstone Barristers, and Matthew McFeeley , instructing solicitor at Richard Buxton Environmental and Public Law, and the researchers and volunteers who have assisted in this case.

Thank you for taking the time to read this case page and for your donations.