LONDON – British regulators on Wednesday authorized new oil and fuel drilling at a website online in the North Sea, a transfer environmentalists say will harm the nation’s try to meet its climate goals.
The U.Ok.’s North Sea Transition Authority mentioned it had authorized the Rosebank Field Development Plan, “which allows the owners to proceed with their project.”
Britain’s Conservative govt argues that drilling in the Rosebank box, northwest of the Shetland Islands, will create jobs and bolster the U.Ok.’s power safety.
One of the greatest untapped deposits in U.Ok. waters, Rosebank holds an estimated 350 million barrels of oil.
The box is operated by way of Norway’s Equinor and the U.Ok. company Ithaca Energy, which say they plan to speculate $3.8 billion in the first segment of the undertaking. The box is predicted to begin generating in 2026-2027.
Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas referred to as the choice to approve drilling “morally obscene.”
“Energy security and cheaper bills aren’t delivered by allowing highly subsidized, foreign-owned fossil fuel giants to extract more oil and gas from these islands and sell it overseas to the highest bidder,” she mentioned.
The govt argues that Rosebank and different new tasks shall be “significantly less emissions intensive than previous developments.”
It says continuing to extract the North Sea’s dwindling oil and gas reserves “is important for maintaining domestic security of supply and making the U.K. less vulnerable to a repeat of the energy crisis that caused prices to soar after Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Critics say it’s the latest climate U-turn by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government. Last week Sunak announced a five-year delay, until 2035, on banning new gasoline and diesel cars.
The government says it still aims to reduce the U.K.’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho mentioned the U.Ok. used to be dedicated to making an investment in renewable power, but “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.”