THE oil company planning to drill at Arreton paid a visit to the Isle of Wight yesterday (Monday).

Visiting the Arreton drill sites, a spokesperson for UKOG said they were going full speed ahead towards the 2020 drilling campaign.

UKOG said it received a warm welcome when the team visited the Island, but campaigners disputed this on social media, saying the oil company was not welcome on the Isle of Wight.

As previously reported, drilling is due to begin in early 2020, but will be subject to applications to the Isle of Wight Council.

The oil company is accelerating plans to drill on the Isle of Wight after discovering ‘significantly more’ oil at Arreton than previously thought.

The site at Arreton was drilled in the 1970s by British Gas but at the time it was not economically viable to develop the site, as the oil did not flow to the surface.

However, with new technologies, UKOG think the discovery can now be exploited economically.