Ministers face a backlash from climate groups after giving the green light to a new North Sea oilfield just weeks after the Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow.
The Abigail oil and gas field off the east coast of Scotland was quietly approved by the government’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) last month, defying climate experts who warned at the Glasgow conference in November that no new fossil fuel developments would be compatible with the world’s climate targets.
Climate campaigners object to the field, which will be developed by Israeli owned Ithaca Energy, because its diminutive gas reserves will do little to help secure the UK’s energy supplies while contributing to carbon emissions.
Tessa Khan, the director of Uplift, a group which campaigns for a fossil-free UK, said the field would “see little to no benefit for UK energy customers or taxpayers, which only worsens the climate crisis, and where the only winners are the oil firm behind the project”.
Khan said the government should instead cut the UK’s reliance on “very expensive, highly polluting energy” in favour of a “serious response” to both unaffordable energy bills and the climate crisis based on renewable energy.
“The government needs to stop rolling over for the oil and gas industry, stop dishing out licences, and get on with making sure people have access to affordable, renewable energy,” she said.
An OGA spokesperson said; “The OGA will continuously hold the operator to account on emissions reductions as part of our stewardship.”
The government has also faced opposition for failing to insist that a major new oil development at Cambo in the North Sea comply with incoming legislation which would apply a “climate compatibility checkpoint” for new fossil fuel projects.
Work at the Cambo field was halted late last year by private equity-backed fossil fuel explorer Siccar Point Energy, after its project partner Shell pulled out of the project following fierce opposition from environmental activists.
Caroline Rance, a climate and energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland, described the government’s climate checklist as a “farcical plan” which was “designed to set the bar so low that the oil industry gets to lock us into their climate-wrecking business as usual for decades to come”.
“The UK government should immediately stop granting permission for new oil and gas projects, and instead begin a managed phase-out of existing fields while ensuring a just transition for affected workers and communities,” she said.
“The simple fact is that there is no such thing as a climate compatible oil and gas development. Climate science is crystal clear that burning fossil fuels is the key driver of the climate crisis and that there can be no new oil and gas fields anywhere in the world if we’re to limit warming to the 1.5C limit,” Rance added.
