The U.K.’s controversial Rosebank oilfield, which was approved for development in the North Atlantic in September 2023, by the former Conservative government, has faced severe delays as environmentalists battled to block the development. In January, after over two years of waiting, an Edinburgh court deemed the project unlawful. The Labour government must now decide whether to re-approve Rosebank, following an assessment of the potential environmental impact of the project.
The former Conservative government approved the giant Rosebank oilfield by Norwegian oil giant Equinor, 80 miles off Scotland’s Shetland coast, in 2023. Rosebank holds almost 500 million barrels of crude and gas, making it the U.K.’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field. Since the approval, environmental groups and public participants across the U.K. protested to halt the development, claiming that burning Rosebank’s oil and gas would produce over 200 million tonnes of CO2.
Following two years of campaigning to stop Rosefield, an Edinburgh court sided with environmentalists and climate experts, deeming the oilfield unlawful as the original approval did not consider the high carbon emissions that would be produced from burning any oil and gas produced. It also ruled Jackdaw, a second, smaller, gas field, unlawful.
Tessa Khan, from the campaign group Uplift, said the court ruling was a significant milestone. “This … means that Rosebank cannot go ahead without accounting for its enormous climate harm,” Khan said.
The ruling means that Rosebank and Jackdaw must now be sent back to the U.K. government for reconsideration. The Labour government previously stated it would not grant any new licenses for oil and gas developments in the North Sea, which would now include Rosebank and Jackdaw.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said the government “Will respond to this consultation as soon as possible and developers will be able to apply for consents under this revised regime. Our priority is to deliver a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, which drives towards our clean energy future of energy security, lower bills, and good, long-term jobs.”
The U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer has faced stern opposition from Labour Party members over the potential re-approval of Rosebank after it was reported that the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves would likely back the project. Members of parliament (MPs) have called on Starmer to stick to his pledges on oil and gas by cancelling the project. Ed Miliband previously described the approval of Rosebank as “climate vandalism”. Reeves is said to believe that Labour can stick to its climate pledges while maintaining approval for Rosebank as it is not a wholly new license.
MPs have said that if the approval is encouraged by the Treasury, this will lead to further criticism. One MP stated, “We have to send a signal to workers, not just oil giants, that we know what [energy] transition really means. If we don’t build up domestic supply chains and manufacturing for renewables, oil workers will have nowhere to go. They won’t thank us for that.” Many MPs suggested that the country should not be relying on new oil revenues to bolster the economy at the expense of the environment.
One Labour backbencher spoke about the potential Labour approval of Rosebank. They stated, “[It] will be a moment to speak out. There are a lot of us, on every wing of the party, who would go absolutely nuts if that happened.”
Meanwhile, Five Labour Party members wrote a letter to the Times on Monday, criticising the automatic connection provided between new oil fields and economic growth, emphasising Labour’s green electoral platform. “Labour’s mandate is clear: the country wants a decisive shift toward a future with cleaner, more secure energy,” the letter stated, signed by Luke Murphy, Polly Billington and Alex Sobel, Peter Swallow and Abtisam Mohamed. In addition to Labour MPs, several Scottish politicians have been critical of the potential re-approval of Rosebank.
The Energy Department is expected to publish new guidelines in the spring following an assessment of how emissions caused by the burning of oil and gas extracted from energy operations will be accounted for and allowed for in planning applications. These guidelines could shape the decision on Rosebank and other developments in the coming years.
With the decision over the licensing of the U.K.’s largest oilfield, Rosebank, back in the hands of the government, environmentalists will be fighting harder than ever to ensure that the project is blocked. A re-approval of the project would likely create a lack of confidence in the Labour government, which has been so vocal about its support for a green transition. While the government could approve Rosebank through a technicality – as it stated it would not overturn previously approved oil and gas licenses, this goes strongly against its party manifesto, and it could severely harm Labour’s popularity rating.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com