Rosebank oil drilling decision will follow same process as Jackdaw gas field, says Scottish Secretary

Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander has said a decision on drilling in the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea will follow the same process as that for the Jackdaw gas field.

He told GB News: “There are differences between the two fields, but the process will be the same. Both the decision in relation to Jackdaw and Rosebank had been challenged legally under our predecessors when the Conservative government was in power, and that’s why they became what were called quasi-judicial decisions that rest with the Department for Energy Security and Climate Change, Miatta Fahnbulleh’s department.

“She had to reach a judgment in the round about Jackdaw yesterday. She is, in the days, weeks, and months ahead going to have to come to a judgement in relation to Rosebank. So the process is the same, but they’re different fields, and therefore there will be some different considerations.

“I want Miatta Fahnbulleh, my cabinet colleague, to reach the right decision, and she will have all the evidence in front of her to allow her to make that decision. If I sound somewhat cautious talking about Rosebank, it’s for a very good reason that we don’t want further legal challenges to her decision when she makes it, in a way that we saw legal challenges under our predecessors.

“There have already been delays both in relation to Rosebank and in relation to Jackdaw, so if I’m very careful in my public comments as a cabinet colleague, it’s specifically to avoid the legal risk of anything I say prejudicing the decision when Miatta ultimately makes it.

“That’s why there’s quite an important distinction between Jackdaw and Rosebank. With Jackdaw, it’s predominantly a gas field. So I was in St Fergus, the gas terminal in Scotland, yesterday, where that gas is going to come ashore. That means that those gas molecules are going to then be part of the British network.

“We’ve got pipes right across the country that will go to gas-fired power stations, will heat our homes, power our factories, do the work that is needed. In contrast, with Rosebank, it’s predominantly an oil field. There’s some gas, but it’s predominantly oil.

“If the consenting decision is taken on Rosebank, then that oil would be transported directly from western Shetland to refineries on the continent and sold on the international markets. So a big focus yesterday was on energy security. As you say, the conversation about Rosebank will instead be partly about jobs, partly about investment, partly about tax revenues, but not so much the energy security conversation that was a big feature of the decision in relation to Jackdaw reached yesterday,.”