Energy exploration

Energy exploration on land managed by the Forestry Commission in England

Updated 3rd October 2018

 The UK will use oil and gas for many decades and using the diverse resources we have would give us more security over our energy supplies and reduce our reliance on imports.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) regulate, influence and promote the UK oil and gas industry. It has accountability for exploration; and development decisions and approvals.

The OGA issue licences for ‘onshore hydrocarbon exploration, appraisal and extraction’. The licence does not allow any operations to begin before they have other permissions and consents they might need such as, planning permission and environmental permits.

The Forestry Commission in England manages over 250,000 hectares of land on behalf of government. We will consider applications from licenced operators to investigate, explore or extract on land we manage.

We will carefully assess the potential impacts and their effects on our ability to manage the forests, their biodiversity and the people who visit them