Wytch Farm on the Goathorn Peninsula on the Purbeck on the shores of Poole Harbour. The oil and gas extraction has been present here for most of my life. Production started here in 1979 by British Gas… then after privatisation BP took over, now it’s Perenco.
This is the North West view from where I paint. A peaceful nature reserve on Studland on the harbour side. For most years I was quite oblivious to the toxic oil and gas industry and the insidious hold over Dorset the Oil & Gas giants have had for many years. So when local people seem unconcerned about a gas rig to be erected in nearby Swanage on the hilltop above the tourist seaside town, I have to remember that I too was oblivious to what was happening right under the ground we live on.
Those people don’t realise that once planning and a bore hole have been drilled into the strata, then the proliferation for more exploration is easier, and before you know it the Dorset/ Purbeck World Heritage countryside will be inundated by the gas industry like much of the other licensed areas of the UK in the insane dash for gas and suffer the inevitable industrialisation and toxic consequences.
This watercolour was painted in my oblivious years on a cold January afternoon back in 2005, since then the rig has changed and I am sure so has production and the site seems to have grown. The night illumination from the production pad lighting certainly has increased recently, and just last week I saw a second rig through a gap in the Islands of Poole Harbour possibly somewhere near Wareham?
And just a few days ago, the rig at Wytch has been taken down.
Just because the industry has been here for decades does not mean it needs to expand.
Stew Art
