This week Hedge End oil has again been in the news.

Northern Petroleum believes that an underground reservoir of oil in Hedge End holds up to 30 million barrels of oil – worth millions of pounds. They will not reveal the exact spot but have said that it’s within 400m of existing homes on the outskirts of the town and that they’re currently in negotiations with the owner of the site.

Oil was originally discovered in Hedge End in 1988 in an exploration well next to the M27 at junction 7.

Five years ago Northern Petroleum wanted to set up exploratory wells in a field close to Woodhouse Lane in Hedge End and owned by Hampshire County Council.

Back then, worried about the noise and the chaos on the roads that would result, Hedge End residents and in particular parents of pupils at Berrywood School – only 250m from the proposed site – campaigned against the plans which would have caused a 36m mast to be built and resulted in 24-hour a day drilling for seven weeks in each of the three planned wells.

The planning application was blocked by the council and a second set of negotiations to drill for oil next to the Rose Bowl in West End also ended in failure for Northern Petroleum.

However, the Daily Echo reported in March 2005 that Northern Petroleum ‘vowed to carry on’ and had ‘not given up on the oil field below Hedge End - which they estimate could yield up to 125 million barrels’.

And it seems Northern Petroleum certainly hasn’t given up on Hedge End oil.

Egdon Resources – the oil and gas exploration and production company based in Basingstoke – are waiting on shareholders’ and government approval to take up a ten percent interest in the licence. But they have said that if a lease is secured and planning permission agreed a rig would be installed at the site and drilling would take place 24/7 for several weeks.

If the oil barons come to town will it be Dallas-style living for Hedge Enders – or traffic misery and our beautiful countryside ruined with drilling masts popping up to dominate the horizon?

Where will you stand if planning permission to drill for oil is applied for?

Photo from Flickr by Travel Aficionado.