A British energy company is to start drilling in the North Sea despite pressure on fossil fuel firms to cut back on oil and gas production. London-based EnQuest plans to bring two new oilfields onstream with the potential to extract 500 million barrels of crude in the coming decades.
It is expected plans for the sites neighbouring the Kraken oil and gas field will fuel the political battle over the future of the North Sea.
Labour has pledged to block new production over climate concerns but energy companies argue the party’s plan risks cutting UK energy supplies before replacements can be developed.
The Rosebank oilfield west of Shetland led to protests and legal action to to overturn the Government’s decision to allow its development.
Kraken and the two oilfields planned from EnQuest would have combined reserves larger than Rosebank or the Cambo oilfield north west of Shetland.
Rosebank is estimated to yield 350 million barrels of oil while Cambo would see 170 million, although it has been in limbo since 2021 after Shell pulled out of the project.
Energy firms are under pressure to cut oil and gas production in the race to net zero.
Europe’s highest human rights court ruled on Tuesday (April 9) that countries must better protect their people from the consequences of climate change, siding with a group of Swiss women against their government in a landmark ruling which could have implications across the continent.
The European Court of Human Rights rejected two other, similar cases on procedural grounds — a high-profile one brought by Portuguese young people and another by a French mayor that sought to force governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
EnQuest’s new sites, Bressay and Bentley, are close to Kraken, meaning the three could link up to the same production system.
The company told the Telegraph Bressay was “one of the largest undeveloped oil fields in the UK continental shelf” with oil-in-place estimated to be between 600 million and one billion barrels.
Oil-in-place measures the total oil in a reservoir. The amount extracted from Bressay is thought to be about 200-300 million barrels.
Bentley is believed to be even larger and capable of producing more than 300 million barrels, according to the Telegraph.
The original Kraken oilfield is expected to produce 137 million barrels, with more than 700 million barrels possibly be extracted in total.
Labour has been approached for comment.
