Is Andy Burnham promising a new dawn for North Sea oil and gas?
Inspired speculation about what will happen next President Trump will release, external He said on the Truth Social platform:
“The people of Aberdeen in Scotland are dancing in the streets because new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced he will open up the priceless North Sea Oil!”.
He said it would be a “big day” for the UK and would be “much appreciated by everyone”.
This might be a little early. How this all balances out will hopefully become clear in the coming days and weeks.
One thing we can now be sure of: the new prime minister will not approve approval of the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw sites on his first day in office.
Operators of these fields were given permission by the previous Conservative government, but due to a successful legal challenge these decisions need to be reconsidered.
Environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift argued ministers had not fully taken into account the climate impact of burning the fossil fuels the farms would produce.
Although there are production facilities at both sites, a lengthy process by the Offshore Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Opred) for Environment and Decommissioning is still ongoing.
This has now reached its final stage.
Both applications are subject to consultations, which will end in August, and immediate action on these applications would almost certainly lead to the government appealing to the court again.
