Oil giant Equinor has warned it may shun further investments in the UK if new oil and gas fields at Rosebank and Jackdaw are not approved. “The question will be: is the UK investable in the future? I hope it will not come to that,” said Anders Opedal, boss of the Norwegian state oil company which is part owner of the sites. He told the BBC the company would “have to take a hard view about it” if a decision was made to reject new drilling.
The warning comes as the UK government is set to decide whether or not to grant final approval to extract oil and gas at Rosebank and Jackdaw, despite a ban pledged in Labour’s election manifesto. The government said any decision would take into account all relevant evidence. Rising energy prices have prompted renewed debate over the UK’s energy security, with UK production forecast to halve by 2035. The UK already relies on Norway for half of its gas needs, and the Norwegian government has continued to issue new licences for oil and gas exploration in its own North Sea waters.
Equinor has predicted production will remain at current levels until the middle of the next decade. Opedal said he remained confident that Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s talk of a “pragmatic approach to oil and gas” meant both projects would get approved but he said the current limbo was “an uncomfortable position to be in”. He said that the UK could produce more of its own oil and gas. “It’s a political choice,” he said.
“The North Sea oil and gas industry started on the UK side. We learned from the UK and it’s actually the same geology on both sides of the border – several fields actually cross it.” Rosebank is the United Kingdom’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field, located in the North Atlantic about 80 miles north-west of the Shetland Islands and is thought to hold up to 500 million barrels of oil and gas. Opedal told the BBC the exploration licence for the site was originally granted 25 years ago. “The licence was awarded in 2001, the discovery was made in 2004 and the final investment decision in 2023,” he said.
Both Rosebank and Jackdaw were initially given the go-ahead by the former Conservative government but were delayed by a legal ruling from a Scottish court, after environmental groups argued consent was given without fully considering the climate impact. Following a public consultation on the sites, which closed in August, the final decision now rests with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh. Both Jackdaw and Rosebank are operated by Adura, a joint venture between Equinor and Shell. Aberdeen-based firm Ithaca also owns 20% of Rosebank.
Adura has previously said that if approval comes soon, Jackdaw could start delivering gas to UK homes by this winter as the construction is “99% complete”. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, an organisation that wants the UK to move away from fossil fuel production, said new drilling at Rosebank “won’t cut our bills” and was a “bad deal for Britain”. “It’s overwhelmingly oil for export – but it will make Equinor and its part-owner, the Norwegian government, richer, while Britain is left with high energy bills and a declining workforce.” Khan said Labour’s “climate credibility is also on the line”. A government spokesperson said the North Sea remained a “vital national asset”, adding that “oil and gas will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come – alongside transitioning to clean power to protect jobs and tackle the climate crisis”.
“Any decision will take into account all relevant evidence, including environmental assessments and public representations received during the consultation process,” the spokesperson added.
