Rosebank and Jackdaw: Legal challenge to oil field approvals gets under way

A legal challenge over the decision to give consent to the UK’s largest untapped oil field has begun in Edinburgh.

Greenpeace and Uplift have jointly raised a judicial review at the Court of Session, arguing consent for the Rosebank oil field northwest of Shetland ought to be paused and reassessed.

The two environmental groups are also arguing against the exploration of the Jackdaw oil field off Aberdeen in the same legal case.

The former Conservative-led UK government approved Shell’s proposals to develop the Jackdaw field in 2022 and cleared Equinor and Ithaca Energy’s plans to drill in the Rosebank field last September.

The campaign groups are arguing that the government, along with the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), failed to consider the full impact of emissions caused by burning oil and gas from the fields.

They are also arguing their reasons for approving the schemes were not transparent and that the development will disrupt a marine protected area.

Activists calling for the projects to be halted held a protest outside the court on Tuesday morning.

Ruth Crawford KC, representing Greenpeace UK, told the court a “substantive error of law” had been made when consent was granted for the two schemes based on limited information on their environmental impact and that the charity was seeking “remedy”.

“It was not simply a matter of discretion on whether or not to take emissions into account, it is a matter of the law the impact of emissions had to be taken into account,” she said.

Ms Crawford argued for both developments to be paused and for the oil companies involved in the projects to be made to submit revised environmental impact assessments.

She said these assessments should include consideration of so-called Scope 3 emissions which would be produced by burning all the oil and gas to be extracted from the fields.

Shell said Jackdaw is a “vital project for UK energy security” and will provide enough fuel to heat 1.4 million UK homes.

Equinor has similarly said Rosebank is “vital for the UK” in terms of local investment, jobs and energy security.

The case, before Lord Ericht, continues.