Rosebank MSP Briefing

The Rosebank oil field is the biggest undeveloped field on the UK Continental Shelf. Containing nearly 500 million barrels of oil equivalent, it is three times the size of the controversial Cambo oil field, which the Scottish Government publicly opposed last year. The science is clear that there can be no investment in new oil and gas extraction in order to stay within the 1.5ºC target set out in the Paris Agreement.

Allowing Rosebank to be developed would be inconsistent with these global climate commitments. New oil and gas fields will not deliver on energy security, as the majority of oil from the North Sea is exported. Developing Rosebank will lock us into the broken energy system that is delivering record-breaking profits for companies like Equinor and pushing millions into fuel poverty, while UK taxpayers carry almost all of the costs of developing the field. We urgently need a just transition to an energy system built on renewables and energy efficiency, which starts by ending oil and gas expansion now.

MSPs should individually oppose Rosebank, and should also put pressure on the Scottish Government to set an end date for the extraction of fossil fuels, and follow the precedent they set by opposing the Cambo oil field to call on the UK Government to reject the Rosebank oil field.

This briefing note calls on MSPs and the Scottish Government to publicly oppose the development of the Rosebank Oil Field.