'We will ask if UK is investable': Energy giant warns of threat to North Sea oil and gas if Rosebank and Jackdaw are blocked

A leading European energy company has threatened to scrap investment in the UK if two major projects in the North Sea are blocked.

Anders Opedal, the boss of Norwegian giant Equinor, said the refusal to back the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields would be a ‘major setback’ and ‘contradictory to energy security, to job creation’.

Speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London, he added: ‘We and others will of course then ask if the UK is investable.’

Mr Opedal doubled down on the comments in a later interview with BBC News saying the decision was 'a political choice'  

He told the broadcaster: 'The question will be: is the UK investable in the future? I hope it will not come to that.

'It's a political choice. The North Sea oil and gas industry started on the UK side.'

The comments were seized on by industry experts who urged the government to give the projects the go-ahead after years of delay.

Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: ‘When the chief executive of one of the world’s biggest energy companies warns that Britain risks becoming uninvestable, the UK Government should be extremely worried.

Campaigners protest against new oil and gas projects in the North Sea outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Equinor boss Anders Opedal on Downing Street earlier this year

‘Rosebank and Jackdaw have become a test of whether Britain is genuinely serious about economic growth, energy security and attracting international investment. Approving them should be the easiest decision ministers make all year.

‘If the Government gets this wrong, it should not be surprised when the investment, the jobs and eventually the companies themselves go elsewhere.’

Rosebank and Jackdaw are being developed by Adura, a joint venture controlled by Equinor and Shell. Ithaca Energy also has a 20 per cent stake in Rosebank.

But they have become a focal point for climate activists and opponents to North Sea drilling – including within the Labour government.

They were approved under the previous Conservative administration but that decision was overturned in court after an appeal by campaigners including Greenpeace – forcing fresh applications to be lodged in 2025.

A decision could come within days having been delayed until after Thursday’s by-election where Green Party leader Zack Polanski is seeking to win the seat of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Much of the infrastructure needed for the Jackdaw gas field 150 miles east of Aberdeen is already in place, meaning it could begin production this winter if approved.

Rosebank, near the Shetland Islands, could deliver oil in the first half of 2027, with Adura set to become the largest fossil fuel producer in the UK North Sea.

But opposition to North Sea oil and gas has intensified since Labour came to power.

The party’s 2024 manifesto ruled out new North Sea licences while the windfall tax introduced by the Tories was raised and extended – leaving firms facing an effective rate of 78 per cent on oil and gas profits.

Borthwick said: ‘Global energy companies have choices about where they deploy billions of pounds of capital, and Britain is giving them fewer and fewer reasons to choose us. Rejecting Rosebank or Jackdaw would send an extraordinarily damaging message to international investors that even after committing billions, securing approvals and building infrastructure, the UK can still move the goalposts.

‘The consequences would stretch far beyond Aberdeen. It would mean fewer jobs, less investment, lower tax revenues and greater reliance on imported energy at a time when energy security has rarely mattered more.

‘There is also a staggering contradiction at the heart of this debate. Britain will continue to need oil and gas for decades, yet we are contemplating turning away investment in our own resources while spending billions importing those same products from overseas.’

Healey warns bank bosses of 'challenging fiscal picture' - fuelling fears of Budget tax raid 

By John-Paul Ford Rojas

John Healey yesterday told bank bosses that Britain faces a ‘challenging fiscal picture’ – fuelling fears of a tax raid on the sector that lenders argue will damage growth.

Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first Budget on October 28

The Chancellor summoned top executives to 11 Downing Street as speculation mounts ahead of the Budget in three weeks’ time over how he plans to make the sums add up.

Top executives from Lloyds, Natwest, Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide and Santander attended the meeting. Banks argue that a tax raid on them will damage lending to the real economy.

Bosses also told the Chancellor that it risked widening the gap with rival financial centres such as New York, where bank taxes are lower.

But Healey is under pressure to fund Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s plans from providing cost of living relief to overhauling social care and launching a major council house building drive, as well as boosting defence spending.

And his ‘headroom’ for meeting fiscal rules is narrowing as the growth outlook worsens and bond markets push up the cost of servicing debt.

Healey told executives at the meeting that he had made no decisions on tax yet.

The City is stepping up efforts to prevent a tax raid on banks ahead of the Budget.

Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation, said he was ‘hugely concerned’ that they could be targeted.

He told the Telegraph higher taxes would mean banks ‘will not be able to afford to lend as much’ and risked driving investment abroad.

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