New guidance published for North Sea oil and gas projects

Mary McCoolBBC Scotland NewsPA MediaOperators now have to hold out assessments that take emissions from burning oil and fuel into accountThe UK authorities has printed steering on the way it will contemplate recent functions for oil and fuel initiatives.The transfer will decide whether or not manufacturing can go forward within the controversial Scottish fields, Rosebank and Jackdaw – however provides no indication as as to whether ministers would give their approval.Operators will now have to attract up new environmental influence assessments that take emissions launched from burning oil and fuel under consideration – not simply the emissions from manufacturing.Vitality Minister Michael Shanks stated the steering supplied readability on the way in which ahead for the North Sea oil and fuel business.Nonetheless local weather campaigners say new developments will make “barely a dent” within the UK’s reliance on imported fossil fuels.Getty ImagesThe new steering was drawn up in response to a landmark Supreme Court docket ruling final yr, that Surrey County Council ought to have thought of the complete local weather influence of burning oil from new wells.Beforehand, these assessments took under consideration emissions generated by the method of extracting oil and fuel. Nonetheless, they didn’t depend the greenhouse gases which might be launched when these fossil fuels have been ultimately burned – often called “downstream” or “Scope 3” emissions.In January, the Court docket of Session in Edinburgh dominated that the choice in that case ought to apply retrospectively to Rosebank and Jackdaw.Shell’s Jackdaw fuel subject within the North Sea was initially authorized by the earlier UK Conservative authorities, and the business regulator, in summer season 2022.Permission for the Rosebank oil growth, 80 miles west of Shetland within the North Atlantic, was granted in autumn 2023.Lord Ericht stated work on each fields may proceed whereas the brand new data was gathered however no oil and fuel may very well be extracted except recent approval was granted.The local weather watchdog – Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Atmosphere and Decommissioning – and regulator the North Sea Transition Authority had paused choices on licenses for brand new drilling initiatives and the granting of current licenses till the federal government clarified its place.Publication of the brand new steering means offshore builders can submit their functions for consent to extract oil and fuel in already-licensed fields.Vitality Secretary Ed Miliband and the regulator will then rethink whether or not or to not grant consent, taking downstream emissions under consideration.Miliband beforehand described the licence issued to Rosebank as “local weather vandalism”.The UK authorities stated it could contemplate the importance of a mission’s environmental influence, “whereas taking into consideration and balancing related components on a case-by-case foundation such because the potential financial influence and different implications of the mission”.No choices are anticipated till the tip of the summer season.Michael Shanks stated: “This new steering… marks a step ahead in making certain the complete implications of oil and fuel extraction are thought of for potential initiatives and that we guarantee a managed, affluent, and orderly transition to the North Sea’s clear vitality future, consistent with the science.”We’re working with business, commerce unions, native communities and environmental teams to make sure the North Sea and its staff are on the coronary heart of Britain’s clear vitality future for many years to return – supporting well-paid, expert jobs, driving development and boosting our vitality safety.”‘Incompatible’ with local weather commitmentsTessa Khan, government director of the local weather marketing campaign group Uplift, stated the brand new steering implies that oil and fuel firms can be “lastly be pressured to return clear over the big hurt they’re inflicting to the local weather”.She stated: “Within the case of the Rosebank oil subject, which Equinor can now search reapproval for, it’s overwhelmingly apparent that the mission is incompatible with the UK’s local weather commitments. “Whether or not or not this authorities then follows the science and rejects Rosebank can be an actual take a look at of its local weather credibility.”Ms Khan added that Rosebank is a “unhealthy deal” for the UK, wouldn’t assist decrease gasoline payments or enhance vitality independence.Greenpeace UK stated it was proper that the federal government take account of emissions from burning oil and fuel of their decision-making.Nonetheless, it stated approving initiatives like Rosebank could be a “political sleight of hand” that will profit oil firms.The charity’s head of local weather, Mel Evans, stated: “Actual vitality safety and future-proofed jobs for vitality staff can solely come by homegrown, low-cost renewable vitality, and that is what ministers ought to give attention to.”The UK has simply been hit by main droughts, wildfires and ocean heatwaves. Rosebank alone may launch as many planet-heating emissions as 56 coal vegetation operating for a yr. Ed Miliband was proper to say approving Rosebank could be local weather vandalism – he ought to stay true to his phrase.”The replace comes shortly after the UK authorities’s Spending Overview final week, which included about £200m for the Acorn Carbon Seize and Storage (CCS) scheme in Aberdeenshire.Shanks additionally informed the BBC he expects plans to be introduced “quickly” for the way forward for Grangemouth.It is a important second for the way forward for the North Sea nevertheless it successfully tells us nothing.What it does, although, is it takes the brakes off future growth inside current licence areas.Operators looking for consent to supply oil and fuel will now be allowed to renew their functions, which have been on maintain because the Supreme Court docket ruling.They’re going to now have to supply an environmental influence evaluation which units out in any respect the planet warming greenhouse fuel emissions related to the manufacturing and consumption of the product.Past that, they must set out what influence these emissions may have on the warming of the planet.To obtain consent, they have to set a compelling case for why these emissions have to be offset in opposition to the advantages of giving the mission the go forward.Then the minister will use a matrix to resolve whether or not to approve or reject any proposal.We can’t actually know what influence all of it will have on these choices till the primary of them are made.So, there is a summer season of uncertainty forward. However we may begin to collect an image of whether or not the North Sea has a viable future from August onwards.