Pipe dream over for al-Fayed as judges rule against oil claim

Mohamed al-Fayed's hopes of a stake in the income from an oilfield under his Surrey estate finally dried up at the Supreme Court yesterday.

The multi-millionaire former owner of Harrods was awarded nine per cent of the proceeds from the tiny field since 2000 and the same percentage of future income by the High Court in 2008.

But the immediate 621,180 award was cut to just 1,000 by the Court of Appeal a year later after a ruling that he was not entitled to a percentage of the income but just compensation after the boreholes drilled diagonally under the estate.

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Mr al-Fayed took his claim to the highest court in the land and the company exploiting the wells at Oxted, Surrey, appealed over findings that they had trespassed on the estate.

Yesterday five Justices of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the finding of trespass but, by a majority, threw out the appeal on damages.

High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Smith found for Mr al-Fayed after hearing that Star Energy, which owned rights to bore at the Palmers Wood oilfield, did not tell Mr al-Fayed what was happening beneath his Barrow Green Court and Barrow Green Farm.

The oil companies had made millions pumping from under his land for 17 years, it was claimed.

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Mr al-Fayed sued Star Energy through his company Bocardo, claiming 12.5 per cent of the income from the oil owned by the Crown, which gave the oil company a licence to extract it.

The Court of Appeal ruled that, although Mr al-Fayed did have ownership of the strata beneath his land, he did not own the oil. Star Energy committed a technical trespass but had not caused Mr al-Fayed any loss.

The total amount extracted by the end of 2007 was about 1,006,000 barrels worth 10m.

Mr al-Fayed said of the decision: "It is outrageous that the Supreme Court has chosen to follow the Court of Appeal in awarding me paltry damages.

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"It seems to be impossible for me to get justice in this country even at the highest level and I will now have to look to the European Convention on Human Rights which was established precisely to prevent such abuses."