Shell and Equinor face off against UK North Sea oil, gas projects

Shell and Equinor urged on Tuesday an Scottish court to support Britain's approval of the development two vast North Sea gas and oil fields as environmental activists attempted to block these projects.

Shell is fighting Greenpeace's legal challenge at the Court of Session of Edinburgh regarding Britain's approval of the Jackdaw Gas Field in 2022.

Equinor, a Norwegian oil company, and Ithaca Energy, its partner in the case are opposing the decision of 2023 to approve the planned Rosebank Oilfield.

The first day began with Shell winning an appeal against a landmark Dutch ruling which required it to speed up its carbon reduction efforts.

TotalEnergies also opposed a separate legal action at London's High Court regarding new oil and natural gas exploration licenses.

In August, Britain announced that it would not be defending Greenpeace after a landmark decision by the United Kingdom Supreme Court in the summer. This ruling has led the government to abandon its opposition in many other cases.

The Supreme Court has ruled that when planning authorities decide whether or not to approve a project, they must take into account the impacts of burning fossil fuels, and not just their extraction.

Greenpeace’s lawyers stated in documents presented to the Court of Session, that the approval of the Jackdaw & Rosebank projects were illegal as they did not consider downstream emissions.

Shell, Equinor, and Ithaca all face the same challenges.

Shell, who claims that the Jackdaw field will supply enough fuel to warm 1.4 million households, said it would be difficult to stop the project as the infrastructure was already in place and the drilling had begun.

A spokesperson stated that "we accept the Supreme Court ruling... but we believe Jackdaw to be a vital project in the UK's energy security, and it is well advanced."

Equinor refused to comment, but a spokeswoman said Rosebank is "vital" for the UK. Ithaca has not responded to a request for a comment. (Reporting and editing by Sam Tobin)

(source: Reuters)