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New environmental guidance published for halted North Sea oil and gas projects [1]
['Thu', 'Jun', 'Min Read']
Date: 2025-08
Major North Sea oil and gas projects halted by a Supreme Court ruling will be able to reapply for consent after the Government published new environmental guidance.
The Supreme Court ruled last year that emissions created by burning fossil fuels should be considered when granting planning permission for new drilling sites, in a case that focused on an oil well in Surrey but reverberated through the energy sector.
A challenge brought by environmental campaigners in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, over approval for the Rosebank oil field north-west of Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen, was upheld at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in January.
Greenpeace and Uplift had argued the UK Government and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) had acted unlawfully when granting consent to the projects, as environmental impact assessments did not take into account downstream emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels.
The Government has now published new guidance on how the environmental impacts of oil and gas – including their downstream “scope three” emissions created when the fossil fuels are burned – are included in assessments.
Officials said offshore developers will now be able to submit applications for consent to extract fossil fuels in oil and gas fields that are already licensed, which includes Rosebank and Jackdaw.
Energy minister Michael Shanks said the new guidance provides ‘clarity on the way forward for the North Sea oil and gas industry’ (PA)
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will “consider the significance of a project’s environmental impact, while taking into account and balancing relevant factors on a case-by-case basis – such as the potential economic impact and other implications of the project”, the Government said.
Labour has previously ruled out issuing new oil and gas licences for the North Sea, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the fuels will be needed for decades to come and indicated he would not “interfere” with existing licences.
But the green groups behind the legal challenge to the Rosebank and Jackdaw schemes said they were incompatible with the UK’s climate commitments to curb the greenhouse gas emissions driving rising temperatures and dangerous weather extremes.
The International Energy Agency has previously said no new fossil fuel projects should be developed beyond existing fields if the world is to stay below 1.5C of global warming, beyond which increasingly dangerous and irreversible impacts of climate change will be felt.
Energy minister Michael Shanks said: “This new guidance offers clarity on the way forward for the North Sea oil and gas industry, following last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
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[1] Url:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/environmental-guidance-published-halted-north-134257246.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJQjIC4sYwrSwQ5L3qqF4VU9xkiydQwWpVo8lXbloWblx0-c8AefC5PS9xXtCSY4ndI0ofGBdCRfZU_wCZATcYBFnZC3obcNhrz-O64B5nOEUOsMt5b0JI_m0iLgKNVoVrQxuBVB1Rtm_XDJvhkdbq7UkQwphgAHro1Vgttd7rmD
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