ANDY Burnham is expected to delay the decision on two new North Sea oil and gas projects in Scotland due to concerns over the “optics” of approving them after wildfires burned across the country.
The consultation on the Rosebank, off the coast of Shetland and the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea, closed on Monday and is now being considered for approval by the UK Government.
It comes after consultation on the Jackdaw gasfield, 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, ended last week with its future resting with Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Energy Secretary, and Burnham.
The decision on both oil fields is expected to be pushed back until next month due to the Labour Government's concerns about the “optics” of making the announcement during a number of heatwaves and wildfires, according to The Times.
Wildfires have raged across the UK, including in the Cairngorms, where fires burned for several weeks.
In England last week, a wildfire in Stourbridge forced people to flee after it started tearing through homes, with paramedics treating 54 people, including 19 who were admitted to hospital.
It has also been reported that sources expect Jackdaw to be approved, but Burnham could concede to pressure from Labour MPs over approving Rosebank.
Opposition to the Rosebank development has grown over the last year, with Oxfam saying it would emit enough carbon to result in more than 65,000 excess deaths globally.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw will be taken by the energy secretary through a quasi-judicial process.”
They added: “She will consider the relevant evidence, including environmental assessments and representations received during the consultation process before reaching a decision.”
Last week, Burnham claimed that accelerating the extraction of oil and gas could help to pay for the UK’s transition to green energy.
“We won’t be able to stop using oil and gas for some time, that’s just a fact,” he said.
“The question is whether we can accelerate use of it so that we pay for the transition, and one thing helps the other … whether that extraction can be the bridge to the clean energy future we need, and bring it forward. It’s about a pragmatic approach to both of those.”
Labour’s 2024 manifesto promised not to issue licences to explore new fields in the North Sea.
Rosebank and Jackdaw were approved by the previous Conservative government but still require development consent before production can begin.
The decision to approve the two oil fields was also quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, with the courts ruling that ministers had to consider the emissions produced when the oil and gas was ultimately burnt, rather than only those generated during extraction.
The National reported last week how emissions from Rosebank and Jackdaw would cause so many heat deaths it would be equivalent to killing more people than live in Inverness.
Oxfam used the mortality cost of carbon formula, which estimates the number of excess deaths linked to CO2 output, and said the projects would result in 65,495 excess deaths globally.
This is based on predicted lifetime emissions of 254,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide by Shell’s proposed Rosebank oil and gas field off Shetland and Equinor’s Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, which would pump 35,800,000 tonnes into the atmosphere.
The total figure is greater than Inverness’s population of 63,000.
Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay said that giving permission to a “climate-wrecking” project like Rosebank would be “reckless and indefensible”.
She said: “All governments have the basic duty to protect our environment. Yet the frightening reality is that as the climate crisis gets worse, the UK and Scottish Government responses are getting weaker.
“Andy Burnham’s first major climate test as Prime Minister was whether he would honour Labour’s manifesto, ruling out new drilling in the North Sea and standing up to climate-denying Donald Trump. He has already failed it.
“He should have honoured his party’s manifesto, and immediately rejected Trump’s demand to open up the North Sea. It is more of the same short-term thinking that has failed Scotland’s workers and communities for decades.”
Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “While the oil and gas industry does everything in its power to push Burnham into Trump’s drill baby, drill agenda, the nation’s new prime minister has watched the UK and Europe burn baby, burn.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The North Sea remains a vital national asset, supporting jobs, growth and the UK’s energy security.
“We are clear that oil and gas will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come, alongside transitioning to clean power to protect jobs and tackle the climate crisis.”
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