Exclusive:'No deadline' on Rosebank and Jackdaw decision, says UK energy minister
Michael Shanks said the government “will make a decision as quickly as possible” about whether the North Sea oil and gas fields will get the go ahead.
The UK government has “not put a particular deadline” on the Rosebank and Jackdaw decisions, an energy minister has said.
Michael Shanks said the government “will make a decision as quickly as possible” about whether the North Sea oil and gas fields will get the go ahead.
It comes after reports suggested that the projects will either be approve or rejected next month.
Rutherglen MP Mr Shanks was speaking on a visit to Cruachan Power Station in Argyll and Bute, where he was joined by SNP energy minister Stephen Gethins.
Dundee City East MSP Mr Gethins said the Scottish government did not have the “resources” to say whether Rosebank and Jackdaw should be approved and that it would be “foolhardy” of him to do so.
The consultation on the Rosebank oil field, north west of Shetland, closed on Monday. A consultation on the Jackdaw gas field, 150 miles from Aberdeen, ended a week earlier.
The decisions over projects rests with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.
The new prime minister has indicated that both fields could get the go-ahead.
When asked if the decision would be made in September, Mr Shanks said: “We've not put a particular deadline on it, but we have gone as fast as we can through every stage of this process.
“The consultation on Jackdaw closed last week. The consultation on Rosebank closed this week. We obviously have to look at those consultation responses.
“That is the whole point of doing a consultation, and then we will make a decision as quickly as possible.
“But we we haven't put a deadline on it.”
When pushed if he could give an indication about what was likely to happen, he said: “It is a regulatory process. We have been at pains to say there was a court judgment, and people forget the reason these decisions have been held up is because the previous government's decisions were unlawful and were ruled unlawful by a court.
“So we had to respond to that. At each stage, we have done that as fast as possible.
“We will make decisions in due course, but it's a regulatory process.”
SNP minister Mr Gethins, who left Westminster for Holyrood in May, said the Scottish government did not have enough information to either support or oppose the projects.
He told The Scotsman: “I wish I had the full range of powers. It won’t come as a surprise to your readers, I want Scotland to be independent. I wish we were making these decisions.
“You've obviously had the legal judgments. There was a bit of a mess up at Westminster before over this because the UK government went to court and it was found to have broken the rules.
“If you go for energy security and climate compatibility, you have to reach legal definitions.
“I don't have full access to that. I wish I did, but I don't.
“So I think it would be foolhardy of me to express whether or not it has met that those climate compatibility tests.”
When asked what he would do if he were the UK Energy Secretary, he said: “If I was Miatta Fahnbulleh, I would have all the resources at my disposal. I'd have the legal advice, I'd have the officials' advice - not things that I have at the moment.
“So when I talk about things as Energy Minister, I like to do so in as informed a position as I possibly can be, and obviously in this one, I can't be as fully informed because these are not powers that reside at the Scottish government, unfortunately.”
The pair were visiting Cruachan Power Station in Argyll after the UK government announced firms developing methods to store clean energy for days at a time can bid for £28 million of funding.
The newly-launched scheme will offer grants to support technologies such as advanced batteries and underground hydrogen storage.
While wind and solar are the cheapest ways to generate electricity in the UK, they are intermittent and storing excess power generated during windy or sunny weather continues to present challenges.
Currently, the UK grid relies on a range of options, including gas-fired generation, during periods when there is a lack of wind or sunlight.
The so-called ultra-long duration energy storage challenge, launched on Thursday, aims to back projects capable of storing electricity that can then be supplied to the grid for 100 hours of more – powering homes and businesses for at least four days.
Mr Shanks said: “Homegrown clean energy is our route to more affordable bills and energy security, and storing it for when we need it most is critical.
“By backing new cutting-edge battery technology and hydrogen storage with this £28 million grant, we will store more clean power, reduce reliance on expensive gas generation and deliver a more secure energy system.”
The project will have two main areas of focus – the development of new battery technologies capable of providing energy for more than 100 hours, which are yet to be commercialised at scale, and the development and testing of systems that store hydrogen underground and release it when needed.
It comes as the government continues to roll out measures to help remove almost all fossil fuels from the country’s electricity grid by 2030.
Ministers argue that reducing the country’s reliance on natural gas – and therefore its exposure to volatile global prices – will bolster energy security, help to tackle climate change and reduce cost-of-living pressures.
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