Britain is the worst country in the world for letting oil and gas companies drill in protected areas, according to a new investigation. 

The revelations come as the government weighs up whether to approve extraction at the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea. 

Places like the Great Barrier Reef, the Sumatran rainforest and the Dorset coast are among the many internationally-recognised sites that are supposed to be safeguarded from industrial activity. 

Habitat

Yet in more than 7,000 of these locations around the world, companies have permission to drill for oil and gas, according to the cross-border project from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and partners, coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum and European Investigative Collaborations.  

There are two types of licence given to companies: for exploration, which lets them drill in search of oil and gas; and production, which allows them to extract fuel and tends to do more damage. 

The UK has  oil and gas production licences that overlap with 13,500 km2 of protected areas – more than any other country. The area is nearly nine times the size of Greater London.

The danger posed by these overlaps was made stark in 2023, when a damaged pipeline resulted in 200 barrels of oily water leaking into Poole Harbour in Dorset. 

The harbour is protected both internationally and by UK law, and is a vital habitat for wildlife including wetland birds and seahorses.

Pipeline

Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP and member of the energy security and net zero select committee, said the findings were “deeply troubling”. 

“Protected areas exist for a reason,” she said, “and allowing oil and gas exploration within them completely undermines their purpose, putting irreplaceable natural habitats at risk.” Hobhouse described the UK’s place on the list as “frankly shocking and irresponsible”. 

The findings come as the government decides whether to approve production at the Rosebank oilfield. An assessment by Shell and Equinor, the companies that co-own the Rosebank licence, shows that a “worst-case” spill could spread oil across 29 marine protected areas in the North Sea.  

Hobhouse said: “The revelations of this investigation must weigh heavily on the government as it considers the Rosebank decision. 

"Rosebank may not sit directly within a protected area, but the pipeline built to serve it cuts through a highly sensitive marine protected area, posing clear risks to our marine environment.”  

Oil and gas companies operate in marine protected areas within the law - it will never be morally right. 

Shellfish

The investigation found oil and gas production licences encroaching on 46 protected nature reserves in the UK. 

They include a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Surrey Hills, and wetlands such as Morecambe Bay and Poole Harbour, both recognised under the international Ramsar Convention. 

After the oil spill at Poole Harbour, shellfish producers were told to halt sales for fear of contamination, and people were urged to stop swimming there. 

Sam Ryde, engagement officer at Birds of Poole Harbour, a conservation charity, said the incident was devastating. “Being in a protected area, we were told this sort of thing could never happen.” 

French-British oil company Perenco, which operates the pipeline that leaked, said its investigations found that corrosion was the cause of the leak and it has taken steps to ensure a similar incident could not happen again. It added that shellfish sales were halted as a precaution and testing showed no actual contamination. 

Wildlife

Yet the UK continued to approve new oil and gas exploration on nature reserves, particularly in the North Sea, where pollution is already at alarming levels. 

More than 85,000kg of oil and chemicals were spilled there last year, according to government data compiled by Oceana, including 78 spills in protected areas. One incident saw the petrochemicals company Ineos spill almost a tonne of methanol from a gas platform directly into the waters of a protected area. 

“If you poured that off the end of a pier, you’d like to think that you’d be arrested,” said Naomi Tilley, oil and gas lead at the environmental campaign group Oceana. “It’s environmental vandalism.” 

In May 2024, the Conservative government granted 29 new North Sea licences, many of which overlapped with marine protected areas that are home to porpoises, grey seals and puffins. 

These licences were challenged in the high court and ultimately ruled lawful. But the judge said any potential damage to wildlife must be assessed at every step and with increasing specificity as the process goes on. 

Rigorous

Campaigners say that is relevant to the decision on Rosebank. While the government banned any new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea in November last year, decisions remain over fields that have exploration licenses but no permit to extract, such as Rosebank.

“The government can put a stop to any further oil and gas developments, including Rosebank,” said Tilley. “It must do the right thing for the sake of our seas, wildlife and coastal communities.” 

A spokesperson for the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the government body that grants oil and gas licenses, said “vulnerable and protected habitats and species are considered throughout the licensing and permitting process”.

The stated that licences are only awarded when the NSTA has received permission from the environmental regulator for offshore oil that environmental requirements have been met. They said granting a license does not automatically permit certain environmentally risky activities such as well drilling, which requires further assessments.  

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said they did not recognise the findings of the investigation. They said: “The UK has strong environmental protections, with rigorous environmental assessments as part of our comprehensive regulatory framework for offshore oil and gas.”

Morally

The investigation compared 315,000 sites listed in the World Database of Protected Areas with geospatial data for 15,000 oil and gas licences in 120 countries, shared by industry provider Mapstand. 

All the overlaps refer to current licenses, some of which were granted before the areas were given protected status. 

Shell operates in the North Sea through Adura, which it co-owns with Norway’s Equinor. Adura told the Bureau: “Adura is proud to operate to the highest environmental and safety standards in the UK Continental Shelf, itself one of the most regulated basins in the world." The company declined to comment on the wider findings of the investigation. 

Perenco said it is legal to operate in protected areas in compliance with national regulations, shifting responsibility back to the governments which granted the oil and gas permits.

For Tilley at Oceana, the implications are clear: “Whilst oil and gas companies operating in marine protected areas is within the law, it will never be morally right.” 

This Article

This article was first published by the The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which joined media partners in 18 countries across Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East to conduct the Fueling Ecocide project, coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum and European Investigative Collaborations.