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.
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