Published : 3 weeks ago, on 12/11/2024

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) – Shell and Equinor on Tuesday urged a Scottish court to uphold Britain’s approval for the development of two vast North Sea oil and gas fields, as environmental campaigners attempted to block the projects.

Shell is fighting a legal challenge brought by Greenpeace at the Court of Session in Edinburgh over Britain’s 2022 approval of the Jackdaw gas field.

Norway’s Equinor and its partner Ithaca Energy are also opposing a linked case over the 2023 decision to give the go-ahead to its planned Rosebank oilfield.

The first day of the hearing began after Shell won an appeal in the Netherlands against a landmark ruling that required it to accelerate carbon reduction efforts.

It also came as TotalEnergies opposed a separate legal challenge at London’s High Court over new oil and gas exploration licences.

Britain in August announced it would not defend Greenpeace’s case after a landmark ruling by the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court this summer, which has prompted the government to drop its opposition in other cases.

The Supreme Court ruled that planning authorities must consider the impact of burning, rather than just extracting, fossil fuels when deciding whether to approve projects.

Greenpeace’s lawyers said in documents submitted to the Court of Session that approving the Jackdaw and Rosebank projects was unlawful, as it did not take downstream emissions into account.

Shell, Equinor and Ithaca are fighting the challenges.

Shell, which says the Jackdaw gas field will provide enough fuel to heat 1.4 million homes, said stopping the project would be complex as infrastructure is in place and drilling has begun.

“We accept the Supreme Court’s ruling … but our position is that Jackdaw is a vital project for UK energy security and the project is already well advanced,” a spokesperson said.

Equinor declined to comment on the case, but a spokesperson said Rosebank was “vital for the UK”. Ithaca did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Mark Potter)