- The Rosebank project faced severe public backlash due to concerns about its environmental impact.
- The approval comes after Britain in July confirmed plans to award hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, despite its stated aim to decarbonise all national economic sectors by 2050.
A view of the Sullom Voe Terminal, an oil and gas terminal in the Shetland Islands in September 2021.
Adrian Dennis | Afp | Getty Images
LONDON – British regulators on Wednesday gave Norwegian energy giant Equinor permission to develop Britain’s controversial Rosebank offshore oil field in the North Sea, just off the northwest coast of the Shetland Islands.
The North Sea Transition Authority also said it had given the necessary consent.
The British government said it had granted permission to operator Equinor and British energy company Ithaca Energy – which hold 80% and 20% stakes in the field respectively – after “extensive review by regulators”, including with regard to the Environmental impact of development to continue.
Shares in Ithaca Energy rose 7% following the announcement at 9 a.m. London time, while shares in Equinor rose about 1%. Rosebank is considered the largest undeveloped field in the UK
Equinor says the project will be pursued in two phases and estimates it will create 8.1 billion pounds ($9.8 billion) in direct investment. The Company expects the commissioning phase of the field to occur in 2026-27 and estimates that Rosebank’s recoverable resources for the two phases are in excess of 300 million barrels of oil.
“We are investing in our world-leading renewable energy, but as the independent Committee on Climate Change recognizes, as we move towards net zero emissions we will need oil and gas as part of that mix and so it makes sense to source our own supplies from the North to exploit sea fields like Rosebank,” Britain’s Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Claire Coutinho said in a statement.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “We are accelerating the expansion of renewable energy and nuclear energy, but we will continue to need oil and gas for decades to come – so we are getting more of what we need from British waters.”
The Rosebank project has faced repeated delays and intense public backlash over questions about its environmental impact.
Burning Rosebank’s oil and gas would produce over 200 million tonnes of CO2, activists from the #StopRosebank campaign say on Wednesday, promising in a statement that the “fight is far from over” and the group is “putting pressure on the UK will reverse this terrible decision.” and we are using every means to stop this field,” because “climate justice demands nothing less.”
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas echoed those sentiments on Wednesday.
“This is morally obscene. It won’t improve energy security or lower bills – but it will destroy our climate commitments and destroy global leadership. The government is complicit in this climate crime – as is Labor, unless it commits to doing everything possible to repeal it.” she said on the social media platform Xformerly known as Twitter.
The Rosebank development approval comes after Britain in July confirmed plans to award hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, despite its stated aim to decarbonise all national economic sectors by 2050.
Exacerbating concerns about Westminster’s commitment to the transition, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced last week that his government would postpone a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years to a new deadline in 2035.
“We do not support Rosebank,” opposition business minister Jonathan Reynolds said in a television interview with Sky News following the announcement. “We believe that the country’s transition away from fossil fuels should be a priority, in part because of fossil fuel price volatility, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we have seen what that means, not just for heating prices, but also for heating.” As far as electricity is concerned, it is linked to the price of gas because our electricity system is adapted to this price of gas. “So real energy security will only be achieved by switching to nuclear power, to renewable energy and to technologies that protect us from these pressures.”
Energy security has moved to the forefront of the European political agenda after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions cut off regional buyers from Moscow’s seaborne crude and refined oil products.
“By voting for Rosebank, Rishi Sunak has confirmed that he doesn’t care about climate change. As we have heard repeatedly, our world can no longer sustain new oil and gas drilling. And when we experience scorching temperatures, wildfires and devastating consequences. “With floods and heatwaves in our seas, it couldn’t be clearer that this is a decision by the Prime Minister to add more fuel to the fire,” said Tessa Khan, Chief Executive the Uplift activist group, in an emailed statement.
“Rosebank will do nothing to reduce fuel bills or increase the UK’s energy security.”