MOHAMED AL FAYED, the flamboyant former owner of Harrods, has had his quest to receive a share of earnings from oil found under his own land struck out by London’s Supreme Court.


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Al Fayed, who still owns Fulham Football Club, has been in a long running dispute with Star Energy over the rights to Palmers Wood oilfield located under his Surrey properties, Barrow Green Court and Barrow Green Farm. Star began producing oil back in 1990, since when over a million barrels of oil have been extracted.

The bore holes for the small oilfield were located outside his property and reached by diagonal drilling under and into Al Fayed’s land. He had initially been granted a 9% share of the proceeds of the find by the High Court, but after a series of contradictory judgments, the Supreme Court which is the nation’s ultimate court of appeal, today ruled against him.

Lord Brown said the only compensation contemplated was for “any loss of amenity value”. Landowners had no right at all in the oil or “in the chances of finding oil under the soil”.

The ruling is based on the premise that while a landowner does possess the rock strata under their land, they do not own any oil in that rock, which is owned by the Crown, which in turn had granted Star Energy a licence to extract it in this case.