Developing a huge new North Sea oil field is the “right long-term decision for the UK’s energy security” despite concerns over climate change, Rishi Sunak has insisted.
Rosebank - the biggest undeveloped oil field in Britain - was given the go-ahead from regulators yesterday and is set to create hundreds of jobs in the North-east.
First Minister Humza Yousaf has criticised the decision but, crucially, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that his party will not revoke the licence should it win the election.
It has been predicted that Rosebank could produce 69,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak, and about 44 million cubic feet of gas per day in its first 10 years.
Its owners, Equinor and Ithaca Energy, say it will create about 1,600 jobs during the height of construction, support 450 UK-based jobs during its lifetime, and provide "a significant amount of tax revenues for the treasury".
Estimates published in the Telegraph this morning put that figure potentially as high as £30billion over the lifetime of the field.
Production is expected to begin in 2026/27 and oil and gas regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, said approval had been awarded "in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project's lifecycle".
Political reaction
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it "makes sense" for the UK to use its own oil and gas supplies as the UK makes the transition to renewables.
The UK has a target to hit net zero - emitting no more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide than the amount taken out of the atmosphere - by 2050.
"This is the right long-term decision for the UK's energy security," he added.
Meanwhile Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said its value to the economy would give the UK greater energy independence.
"We will continue to back the UK's oil and gas industry to underpin our energy security, grow our economy and help us deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy," she added.
First Minister Humza Yousaf disagrees and has criticised the decision.
He said: “I think Rosebank is the wrong decision. Scotland’s future, the North-east’s future, is as the net zero capital not just of Europe, but of I hope the world.
“New oil and gas licences being given the go ahead will slow the pace of that transition. I want to accelerate that transition and take the workers with us.”
Scotland's Energy Secretary Neil Gray raised concerns that the majority of what will be extracted from Rosebank will go overseas rather than contribute to domestic energy security.
"We are therefore disappointed that approval has been given by the UK government while these concerns remain unaddressed," he added.
His colleague Stephen Flynn - the SNP's Westminster leader and MP for Aberdeen South - did not oppose the oil field outright.
He said that if the UK Government was considering oil and gas projects "through the prism of energy security, net zero, jobs, opportunities and concurrent renewables investment... then of course it should go ahead."
"Where I have concerns is I don't think the UK Government is looking at projects through that prism," he said.
Labour wont revoke decision
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that his party will not revoke the licence for Rosebank if it wins the election.
But he added that no new licences would be granted if Labour gained power.
He told the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast that allowing the North Sea exploration to go ahead would provide "the stability that we desperately need in our economy"
However campaigners have threatened to bring a legal challenge against the approval for the development.
Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaign group Uplift, alleged there were “strong grounds to believe that the way this government has come to this decision is unlawful”.
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, called the decision to go ahead with Rosebank “morally obscene” and accused the government of “climate crime”.