CAMPAIGNERS are urging Surrey County Council to stop investing pension money into fracking after figures reveal more than £161.4million has been pumped into oil companies,

Surrey Pension Fund, managed by the county council, invests 4.29 per cent of its funds into companies such as Shell, BP, BHP Billiton and ConocoPhillips.

That amounts to £161,368,579 of the fund worth over £3 billion.

The data was revealed by campaign groups 350.org, Platform and Friends of the Earth who looked into all council-run pension funds around the country.

Fracking is the process of pumping water, mixed with a small proportion of sand and chemicals underground at pressure to cause the rock to break or fracture which then helps to release natural gas.

It is not widely used in the UK, but Green campaigners are against it because of fears it will trigger earthquakes, harm the environment and move focus away from renewable energy.

Some Surrey residents have been campaigning against oil drilling at Leith Hill, near Dorking, by Europa Oil and Gas which withdrew a planning application last week after Environment Secretary and Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove decided not to extend their lease on Forestry Commission land.

Campaigner Emma Hughes urged the council to stop investing in fracking, saying: “Fracking threatens communities, destroys local landscapes, and fuels climate change.”

A county council spokesman said: “The Surrey Pension Fund is run for more than 250 public bodies in Surrey, including the county council, and this relates to the tiny amount invested in these companies, not specifically fracking.

“It has a duty to maximise returns and provide the best value for its pension members and taxpayers while also investing responsibly.”

nNo fracking has been authorised in Surrey. In August, scientists called for a temporary ban on oil drilling in the county after 12 earthquakes in four months.

Four senior geologists said there are risks to health and the environment from unstable geology that had not been identified when permission was granted for several oil exploration sites, including two a few miles from the earthquake epicentres.

People in Newdigate, Dorking, Horley and Charlwood reported shaking ground and creaking buildings from the small earthquakes, which had a magnitude of up to 3.0.

There had been no previous recorded earthquakes in Surrey for at least 50 years.

Fracking was temporarily banned in the UK in 2011 after Cuadrilla caused earthquakes near Blackpool.

Companies extracting oil in the county say that they use conventional procedures.

In 2014, Celtique Energie’s application to drill a temporary well to test for oil and gas in the South Downs National Park, near Fernhurst, West Sussex, was turned down.