UK push for North Sea oil and gas drilling was unlawful

By Nicholas Earl | 01/31/2025 06:23 AM EST

A fresh decision on Rosebank and Jackdaw will now be made by Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

The Brent Charlie topside oil rig is towed on the Allseas Iron Lady cargo barge.

Fresh decisions on whether to drill in the two fields will now have to be made by regulators and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Ian Forsyth/AFP via Getty Images

LONDON — The Scottish High Court quashed decisions by the British government to approve drilling in two vast North Sea oil and gas fields after legal challenges from environmental campaigners.

Fresh decisions on whether to drill in the two fields, Rosebank and Jackdaw, will now have to be made by regulators and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, whose Labour administration succeeded the Conservatives who pushed the initial decision.

Greenpeace and anti-fossil fuel group Uplift presented three legal challenges against the two fields in Edinburgh’s Court of Session last November.

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Rosebank is a joint venture between oil and gas giants Equinor and Ithaca, while Jackdaw is owned by Shell.

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