2023-09-27 09:00:02
LONDON (AP) — British regulators on Wednesday approved new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, a decision that environmentalists say will undermine the country’s efforts to meet its climate goals.
The British North Sea Transition Authority said it had authorized the Rosebank Field Development Plan, “allowing the owners to proceed with their project.”
The British Conservative government claims that developing the Rosebank field, northwest of the Shetland Islands, will create jobs and strengthen British energy security.
The area is home to one of the largest untapped deposits in British waters, with an estimated 350 million barrels of oil.
The field is managed by the Norwegian firm Equinor and the British Ithaca Energy, which say they plan to invest $3.8 billion in the first phase of the project. The field is expected to begin production between 2026 and 2027.
Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas described the decision to authorize drilling as “morally obscene.”
“Energy security and cheaper bills are not achieved by allowing foreign and heavily subsidized fossil fuel giants to extract more gas and oil from these islands and sell it abroad to the highest bidder,” he said.
The government alleges that Rosebank and other new projects will be “significantly less emissions-intensive than previous developments.”
Continuing to extract from the dwindling North Sea oil and gas reserves “is important to maintain internal security of supply and make the UK less vulnerable to a repeat of the energy crisis that sent prices soaring following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.” , stated the government.
Critics say it is a new change of course on climate matters by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government. Sunak last week announced a five-year delay, until 2035, on the ban on new petrol and diesel cars.
The government says it still aims to bring Britain’s net carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050.
Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said Britain is committed to investing in renewable energy, but “we need oil and gas as part of that mix on the path to net zero emissions, so it makes sense to use our own energy supplies.” North Sea fields like Rosebank.”
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