4th April 2005 OUR SUNSET BONANZA

It is now 13 years since oil and gas were discovered under the sea just off Ainsdale, called the Lennox Field. It finally came on stream in 1995 and through its expected lifespan of more than 20 years, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd of Australia , its current operator says: “the estimated yield will be over 150 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas”.

Much of this fossil fuel was discovered over 3,500 feet down under the sea from the nearby Lennox oil rig that our residents can see on the horizon which is just one of four wells operating in Liverpool Bay. These are now all linked together, enabling them to have their joint production finally coming ashore at the Point of Ayr fuel terminal in North Wales . Even in 1995 the value of this entire yield was estimated to be over £2billion, but at today’s sky-high fuel prices it must now be considerably more.

The Southport Party, ever vigilant to improve our town, would like to ask the following questions to both the company and to Sefton Council:

  • What has Southport received from having these valuable assets sucked from under our feet for the last 13 years and would they mind publishing the supposed benefit list so that residents can have a better understanding of how our town gains from this “Sunset Bonanza”?
  • Certainly the mud on our beaches comes from somewhere. There are now large quantities of this slimy deposit all along our once golden sands, stimulating the growth of grassy mounds. But the question arises - is this the very same mud that is used in large quantities for drilling purposes on the production platforms? An analytical investigation into this possibility needs to be carried out to allay any such fears.