Government gives the green light to new North Sea oil and gas field
A new oil and gas development in the North Sea was approved by the government yesterday,
The Abigail field, which lies 233km from Aberdeenshire, has now been given the go-ahead for construction and will cost about £150m, according to Rystad Energy data.
The site is owned by by Ithaca Energy, and contains 5.5m barrels of oil equivalent, which will be split equally between oil and gas.
The decision will be a boost for the North Sea’s fossil fuel industry, after Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field plans last year,
According to analysis published last month from Wood Mackenzie, oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea are expected to report “near record” income in 2021 and 2022 as the price of energy skyrockets.
The move has prompted a damning response from environmental campaigners.
Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, a campaign group working towards a fossil fuel-free UK, said the new site “only worsens the climate crisis,” and urged the UK Government to stop sanctioning oil and gas developments.
Oil prices remain close to the seven-year highs reported on Monday, with Brent Crude dropping 0.39 per cent to $88.91 per barrel.