Exposed: KCC's £153m investment in fracking

Kent Greens have exposed Kent County Council's conflict of interest in shale gas exploration and on the day that a public meeting is being held on local shale exploration in Kent, the Greens have called for the council to hand over its decisions on all applications to local referenda. The Green Party have discovered that KCC holds £153 million of shares in companies actively or wholly involved in extracting shale oil and gas.  The Green Party remains the only party opposed to fracking.

Stuart Jeffery, Chair of Kent Green Party and European Parliamentary Candidate: "We are calling for the decision making on fracking applications to be taken out of the hands of Kent County Council. They have a huge conflict of interest which may explain some of the reason that they are so intent on destroying our environment. They cannot be trusted to make unbiased decisions and therefore they should be stripped of this power. Until fracking is banned in this country, we want decisions on fracking to be made directly by local people.

"Kent County Council's huge investments in these eight companies that are exploiting and polluting the environment demonstrates how unfit the Conservative County Councillors are to lead Kent.

"Fracking has no place in an ecologically sustainable world. Instead, energy companies should be putting their money into renewable resources - resources that won't run out and that don't pollute."


Notes

1. £7m invested in EOG which proudly declares that: "EOG outproduces other horizontal shale oil producers by 2:1" http://www.eogresources.com/investors/annreport.html
2. 9m invested in the Wood Group: "Wood Group's activities to support oil & gas production from shale fields in the US are growing, with annualized revenue totaling approximately $500 million" http://www.woodgroup.com/news-events/news-releases/pages/1851669.aspx
3. £16m in BHP Billiton: "Our production volumes increased 40 percent over the prior year driven by the acquisition, successful integration and continued development of our Onshore US shale assets." http://www.bhpbilliton.com/home/businesses/petroleum_potash/Documents/20120101_PetroleumPotash_Petroleum_AnnualReview2012.pdf
4. £12m invested in Centrica, a company that has a 25% stake in the Bowland Shale in Lancashire: "This transaction presents an attractive opportunity for Centrica to explore the potential and commercial viability of natural gas from shale in the UK" http://www.centrica.com/index.asp?pageid=29&newsid=2778
5. £10m invested in Total: "Unconventional gas is a major strategic challenge for the future of the natural gas industry." http://total.com/en/energies-expertise/oil-gas/exploration-production/strategic-sectors/unconventional-gas/shale-gas-1/international-deployment/europe
6. £15m invested in BP AMOCO: "Natural gas, including gas from unconventional reservoirs, has an increasingly important role in meeting the world’s growing energy needs." http://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/investors/6423_BP_Unconventional_Gas.pdf
7. £27m in ROYAL DUTCH SHELL: "Abundant global supplies of natural gas and oil lie locked tightly in rock formations such as tight sandstone and shale. Shell is using advanced, proven technologies – including hydraulic fracturing – and follows global operating principles to unlock these resources safely and responsibly." http://www.shell.com/global/future-energy/natural-gas/gas/shell-operating-principles.html
8. £31m in BG Group: "BG Group explores for and produces unconventional gas in two regions: coal seam gas in Australia; and shale gas in the USA." http://www.bg-group-ara.com/pdf/bg-ar-2012-full-report.pdf
9.  East Kent Against Fracking meeting 16th Oct 7.30pm Dover http://eastkentagainstfracking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/fracking-in-garden-of-england-meeting.html