London, UK: UK regulators have granted permission to proceed with the controversial Rosebank field development in the North Sea.
Situated 80 miles west of Shetland, Rosebank is the UK’s largest untapped oil field, holding an estimated 500 million barrels of oil.
Owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy have secured approval for development and production, following their reassurances regarding environmental concerns.
The plan has been widely criticised for its impact on climate change. In the past month, 50 MPs and peers from various parties expressed worry that the oil field might generate 200 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.
They wrote a letter to the then UK Energy Secretary, Mr. Grant Shapps, urging him to reject the Rosebank project. They also mentioned that the taxpayers would bear a significant portion of the development cost.
This follows the government’s announcement that it will issue hundreds of new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
A spokesperson for the oil and gas regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), said that, “we have approved the Rosebank Field Development Plan, which allows the owners to proceed with their project.”
It had been awarded “in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project’s lifecycle,” the spokesperson added.
In response to the decision, UK Energy Security Secretary Ms. Claire Coutinho stated that, “We are investing in our world-leading renewable energy, but, as the independent Climate Change Committee recognise, we will need oil and gas as part of that mix on the path to net zero, and so it makes sense to use our own supplies from North Sea fields such as Rosebank.”
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