Oil project off Scottish coast shelved in huge win for green groups

LONDON • An oil project off the coast of Scotland that had become a test of Britain's environmental credentials has been shelved by its main owner.

The decision on Friday to halt Cambo, as the oil field is known, is a huge win for environmental groups like Greenpeace and a blow to the North Sea oil industry.

It comes just over a week after Shell, which owns 30 per cent of the project, pulled out of the investment.

"We are pausing the development while we evaluate next steps," said Siccar Point Energy, a London-based company that is backed by private equity firms, including financial management giant Blackstone.

Siccar Point said it had planned to invest US$2.6 billion (S$3.5 billion) in Cambo and had already spent US$190 million on the field since acquiring it in 2017.

The company said that developing Cambo, a potentially valuable source of oil and natural gas, would have created 1,000 jobs.

Environmental groups, on the other hand, said that starting new drilling projects was not compatible with Britain's goals of tackling climate change and reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The British government has been considering whether to let Cambo go ahead.

Located north-west of Scotland's Shetland Islands, Cambo became a target of protests, including at the recent United Nations climate summit in Glasgow. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she did not think it should be given the green light.

On Dec 2, Shell said it would not go ahead with the investment as the economic case was not strong enough. Shell's decision, which was also prompted by the potential for delays from protests and lawsuits, led Siccar Point to decide it could not "progress on the originally planned timescale", the firm said.

NYTIMES