Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Environmental campaigners and oil companies have clashed in court over licensing decisions for two large offshore energy fields in the UK. The campaigners are challenging the government’s approval for the Jackdaw gas project and the Rosebank oil field, on the grounds that the fields were approved unlawfully. The court agreed the projects were approved without the necessary environmental information. However, the two sides disagree about what should be done. The companies have spent billions on the projects and warned that pausing the development to carry out further assessments will cause significant damage to the UK economy.
The previous Conservative government and the oil and gas regulator gave consent for Jackdaw, in summer 2022, with owner Shell stating the field will be capable of supplying gas to 1.4 million UK homes. Shell will invest £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in the project between 2023 and 2025, employing at least 1,000 people. Equinor will invest £2.2bn in Rosebank, which it claims will provide employment to 4,000 people.
The disputed decision follows a UK Supreme Court victory in June for climate campaigners who argued that environmental impact assessments should include downstream emissions. The campaigners hope the pause in work on Rosebank and Jackdaw will enable downstream emissions to be evaluated before energy secretary Ed Miliband and the North Sea Transition Authority make a fresh decision on licensing.
Miliband’s powers to revisit the licensing decisions are disputed by the government’s lawyers. Labour had pledged not to grant new exploration licenses in UK waters, but to allow existing projects, including Rosebank and Jackdaw, to continue. Environmental activists have contested the claim that domestic energy production is required for economic reasons.
The court will consider the matter over the coming weeks or months
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.