Stay informed with free updates
Simply register Oil and gas industry Myft Digest – delivered directly to your inbox.
Sir Keir Starrer and Rachel Reeves want two new controversial oil and gas fields in the North Sea, despite the concerns of the MPs and the environmentalist, to continue about the enormous carbon emissions of the projects.
Last week Scotland’s top civil court revoke Consent for the Jackdaw Gasfield from Shell and the 3 -billion Pfund -Rosebank project, which is developed by Norway’s Equinor and the British Ithaca energy.
The developers are expected to apply for new authorizations after the government requested how applications should be considered in view of a judgment of the Supreme Court of 2024 that these emissions from burning fossil fuels must be included during the environmental impact.
“Our position is clear that we have supported these fields,” said an ally of Starrer. “The problem has occurred because the regime of the previous government was found as illegal. The new applications must be the new regime, but our position on existing fields is very clear: we support you. “
Anders Opedal, Managing Director of Equinor, said the Financial Times said that he had expected the government to support the project because Labor promised to enable existing oil projects, even if it blocks new explorations.
“We expect the government to advance this project,” he said. The court ruling of the last month had approved the development of development, he said, adding that Rosebank was “on the right track” in 2027 to start production.
Philippe Mathieu, the Equinor Executive, which is ultimately responsible for Rosebank, said that the company was in the “continuous and constructive” dialogue with the Energy Ministry of Desnz.
He said that Equinor would probably receive clarity about the new official requirements in April and then submit a new study on environmental compatibility.
Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil reserve in Great Britain and it is assumed that it contains 500 million barrels of oil.
The Court Rule last week The permissions granted for Jackdaw in 2022 and Rosebank in 2023 had to be reconsidered as Finch in a separate case due to the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The judgment has threatened to endanger the government’s tall woven approach to oil and gas in the North Sea.
Ed Miliband, energetic in 2023 – as a Labor in opposition – described the license, which was exhibited at Rosebank, as “colossal waste of taxpayers and climate vandalism”.
But Reeves said last week that “in our (election) manifesto it was really clear that we would honor all existing licenses, including Rosebank and Jackdaw, and we will stick to these obligations.”
Clive Lewis, a Labor MP, told the BBC that Great Britain had the opportunity to show global leadership in climate policy: “That’s what Brexit was about”.
“We are supposed to be a social democratic government that has climate obligations. It is time that a few months ago we comply with the obligations we have made to the British public.”
The government is currently creating new guidelines for environmental impact assessments in response to the Finch decision published in spring. It is expected that the guidelines are higher for projects with fossil fuels.
The energy companies then have to initiate environmental impact assessments to the offshore petroleum regulator for the environment and decommissioning, a Quango that answers Miliband.
People who are familiar with the government’s thinking said that the Labor would promise to end their manifesto to end research in new fields, even though there could be some “winding space” for the operators. “Some (environmentally) people won’t like it,” said one.
Desnz, however, has delayed the publication of this new consultation, since it has delayed wider state concerns regarding the perspective of the government in the United States, in which Donald Trump is a confessed supporter of fossil fuels.
Although the Labor government has committed itself to achieving the net carbon emissions by 2050, the British trajectory would still contain a huge -albeit in a decline in fossil fuels in the next 25 years.
“The government has advised on guidelines to ensure certainty to the industry. Oil and gas will be with us in the coming decades, ”said a spokesman for Downing Street.
“We endeavor to manage the North Sea and existing oil fields. As soon as we have given these guidelines, developers can again apply for consent as part of this revised regime. “
In the meantime, the government is ready to publish a consultation on how its new North Sea and gas license regime with the long-awaited restrictions for the new exploration will work.
