Senior cabinet ministers are lobbying Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to approve drilling at the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea, according to a Bloomberg report carried by Rigzone. A majority of the cabinet is said to support the project, along with some senior advisers to the Prime Minister, and those pushing for approval privately believe the decision is heading in their favour.

Rosebank, about 80 miles north-west of Shetland, is the largest undeveloped oil and gas reservoir in UK waters, holding an estimated 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its developers, the Equinor and Shell joint venture Adura, estimate the project would bring £6.6 billion of direct investment into UK businesses.

No decision yet, and the final call rests with Fahnbulleh

Government officials have stressed that no decision has been taken. The approval process is led by Fahnbulleh and is due to report back by the end of the year, and the decision is not expected in the next few weeks. The Energy Secretary has previously signalled opposition and has insisted that only she can take the decision, under a quasi-judicial process that must weigh environmental assessments and public representations.

The field was first approved by the previous Conservative government, but a Scottish court overturned that consent in January 2025 because the assessment had not considered emissions from burning the oil and gas produced. The government approved the smaller Jackdaw gas field last month, and on Wednesday it introduced a bill to Parliament to legally ban new North Sea exploration licences, a move that would not affect Rosebank because it already holds a licence. The Times reported that Treasury budget calculations already assume Rosebank will go ahead, a point campaigners say raises questions about whether the decision has been pre-judged.