The North Sea Transition Authority signed off on the ever-controversial Rosebank oil field this week and lit a tinderbox of political and environmental debate.
Energy Voice’s Allister Thomas, Andrew Dykes and Ryand Duff dived into Rosebank talking points in a special “breaking news” video edition of the Energy Voice Out Loud podcast.
This has been interpreted as a positive by the oil and gas industry and its supporters with the chief executive of trade body Offshore Energies UK, David Whitehouse saying “We need more projects like Rosebank” as he made an argument for energy security.
However, the flip side of the argument is that increased oil production will strengthen UK energy security. Some argue that Rosebank will send what it produces to European refineries, at which point the UK will have to buy it back.
This is true, in some regards but it is important to note that the UK is a net importer of oil and gas, meaning that it takes out more than it gives to the global supply of hydrocarbons.
In addition to this, oil that is sent overseas to refineries often comes back as everyday products that have yet to be replaced by oil-free substitutes. This indicates that demand has to diminish before supply can.
Energy security and supply vs demand have not been the only talking points surrounding Rosebank.
Electrification is something that has been discussed as a core pillar of Rosebank’s application for a North Sea licence and yet, the Energy Voice trio discusses that the project might be years away from achieving this.
Obviously, there are also the environmental impacts of approving the largest untapped oilfield in UK waters.
Campaigners have taken to the streets of London to oppose Equinor (OSLO: EQNR) and Ithaca Energy’s (LON: ITH) project.
Groups such as Uplift have threatened legal action over the controversial North Sea development receiving the green light.
Rosebank has served as a hot topic for debate for some time now and it is little wonder that the NSTA signing off on the project has caused a range of topics to resurface.
A video edition of Energy Voice Out Loud can be found at the top of this article or you can listen on your platform of choice.
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