Offshore staff
LONDON – Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) has welcomed a Scottish court’s rejection of Greenpeace’s bid to block production from Ithaca Energy/bp’s Vorlich oil field in the UK central North Sea.
Britain’s government approved the £230-million ($313-million) development of the 30-MMbbl field in 2018. Vorlich has produced for the past nine months through the Greater Stella Area facilities.
Greenpeace had brought legal action in a bid to halt production, arguing that failures in the public consultation process had deprived it of the opportunity to object to the original application.
But this argument was rejected by Lord Carloway, Lord Justice General of Scotland and head of the Scottish judiciary.
The ruling stated: “As a leading environmental watchdog [Greenpeace] ought to have been well aware of the legal mechanisms available in order to mount a challenge. They did not use these mechanisms.”
Lord Carloway also dismissed claims that allowing fields such as Vorlich to produce oil and gas would lead to increased consumption and therefore accelerate climate change.
In addition, the ruling stated that decisions on whether to allow such developments were “matters for decision at a relatively high level of government, rather than by the court… The issue is essentially a political and not a legal one.”
Michael Tholen, OGUK’s sustainability director, said: “This is a victory for common sense and for the UK’s energy security. If the ruling had gone the other way, it would have generated uncertainty among the hundreds of companies involved in producing the nation’s oil and gas.
“They might spend millions of pounds on getting a new oil or gas field licenced only to see it revoked by a court action.
“Such a ruling would make them far less willing to invest in new fields, leading directly to a sharp decline in the UK’s oil and gas production and making the UK more reliant on imports. The current crisis in global gas supplies and resulting price rises shows clearly the risks of increasing our reliance on other countries.”
Tholen added that the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector is actively supporting the target of net zero emissions by 2050, and agreed that ultimately, that reducing demand for oil and gas is essential to achieving this goal.
10/08/2021
