(Bloomberg) -- The UK government won’t challenge legal actions brought by environmental groups seeking to block the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas developments in the North Sea on climate grounds.
Court hearings pitting campaigners Greenpeace UK and Uplift against oil companies including Norway’s Equinor ASA will begin in Edinburgh Friday. This litigation does not mean that licenses for the fields have been withdrawn, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said in a statement on Thursday.
The North Sea Transition Authority, the independent regulator which granted the license for Rosebank, declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
Equinor, which owns a 80% stake in Rosebank, said by email that it “will maintain close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to advance the project.”
The controversial Rosebank field was given the go-ahead by the previous Conservative government in September 2023, despite objections from climate groups and pressure on the government to block the development. Greenpeace and Uplift asked the Court of Session in Edinburgh for a judicial review three months later, saying the consent is incompatible with the UK’s own net zero plans.
The development, which lies in deep waters off the Shetland Islands, isn’t due to start pumping oil and gas until at least 2026.
--With assistance from Katharine Gemmell.
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