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A swarm of earthquakes that shook houses Surrey may be caused drilling operations in the area, the study suggests.
About 1,600 people were registered seismic activitywith some cracking walls and others being shaken in their beds as tremors in the village of Newdigate, near Gatwick Airport, reached the highest magnitude of 3.18 in 2019.
Suspicions were soon raised when it was discovered that the quake’s epicenter was close to UK Oil & Gas’s Horse Hill drilling operation – but a survey by the British Geological Survey no link found with oil and gas works.
However, for years environmentalists have blamed nearby oil extraction for the quakes, and now a new report has been commissioned University College London (UCL) seems to have strengthened their argument.
Matthew Fox and Philip Meredith ran computer simulations based on location and magnitude oil extraction suggesting that the earthquakes were caused by oil extraction.
“Our findings show that it is possible that oil extraction caused the earthquakes,” said Dr. Matthew Fox, lead author of the study.
Using a Bayesian mathematical model, the researchers predicted the number of earthquakes that could occur based on how much oil was extracted, taking into account two different types of rock from which the oil was extracted.
They also found that Surrey had not experienced an earthquake in decades, suggesting a link between fracking and earthquakes.
Dr Fox added: ‘We cannot rule out that this link is a coincidence. More needs to be done to understand if this is cause and effect.”
Members of the public said nearby buildings could be heard creaking and reported feeling “a big shock after two or three seconds of shaking” during the 2018 and 2019 earthquake swarm.
Tremors were felt in Newdigate, Dorking, Horley and Charlwood Surreyas well as Crawley and Horsham in West Sussex.
Oil exploitation at Horse Hill was controlled by UK Oil & Gas until October 2024, when planning permission from Surrey County Council was withdrawn following legal action brought by campaigners.
A company spokesman said New Scientist: “This is an incident that was responded to and resolved many years ago when the British Geological Survey seismologists were satisfied that it was a natural event associated with movement on a deeper disconnected fault many kilometers deeper and away from the site.”
The Independent has contacted UK Oil & Gas for comment.