Equinor Asks Whether Britain Is Still Worth Investing In
Anders Opedal, chief executive of the Norwegian state oil company, says that if drilling at Rosebank and Jackdaw is refused, “the question will be: is the UK investable in the future? I hope it will not come to that.” He expects approval, and calls the present limbo “an uncomfortable position to be in”.
Rosebank is the largest undeveloped field on the United Kingdom continental shelf, eighty miles north-west of Shetland, thought to hold up to 500 million barrels. It was licensed in 2001, discovered in 2004 and given a final investment decision in 2023; both it and Jackdaw were approved by the last government, then stalled by a Scottish court ruling on the need to weigh climate impact. The consultation closed in August and the decision now rests with the energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, despite a manifesto pledge against new licences. Adura, the Equinor and Shell venture that operates both fields, says Jackdaw is 99% complete and could deliver gas this winter if approved soon; Ithaca owns a fifth of Rosebank. Opedal frames the whole thing as politics rather than geology: “the same geology on both sides of the border — several fields actually cross it.” Tessa Khan of Uplift answers that Rosebank “won’t cut our bills” and is a “bad deal for Britain”. Domestic production is forecast to halve by 2035, and Norway already supplies half of Britain’s gas. The timing is its own tell — the decision was reported last month as likely to wait until after tomorrow’s byelection.