Scottish Greens Attack UK and Scottish Governments Over Rosebank and Jackdaw Oil Field Approvals

The Scottish Green Party has launched a fierce attack on both the UK and Scottish governments over their handling of new oil and gas drilling projects in the North Sea, focusing particularly on the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Speaking at the party’s conference in Inverness, co-leaders Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer condemned what they described as a betrayal of climate commitments in favor of corporate profits.

Approval of Jackdaw Field Sparks Outrage

The UK government recently granted consent for production at the Jackdaw gas field, located 150 miles east of Aberdeen. This decision triggered immediate condemnation from environmental campaigners. However, attention has quickly shifted to Rosebank, an even larger oil field situated 80 miles northwest of Shetland, where the next major decision lies with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.

Furthermore, Rosebank represents a significantly more substantial project than Jackdaw. The field would generate higher greenhouse gas emissions and could prove far more lucrative for its owners, Adura and Ithaca. Journalists recently became the first to visit the Rosebank installation, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel named the Petrojarl Rosebank, to examine life on this controversial oil field.

Green Party Leaders Condemn Government Positions

During her keynote address at the party conference, Gillian Mackay pulled no punches in her criticism of Prime Minister Andy Burnham. She announced she was adding him to her “ever-growing eejit list” after the Jackdaw approval, particularly while his government simultaneously warned of flood risks associated with climate change. Consequently, she urged the government to prevent production at Rosebank from proceeding.

“The first person to welcome Jackdaw was Donald Trump – do they really want to fall in line behind that tangerine eejit?” Mackay said.

Moreover, Mackay directed sharp criticism at First Minister John Swinney, accusing him of “years of swithering” on oil and gas policy. She called on him to “put people and planet before money-hungry corporations” and “oppose Rosebank too.” The question she posed was direct: Are they going back to being the pro-oil party of the past?

Life on the Rosebank Oil Field

Despite the political controversy surrounding it, Rosebank represents a complex engineering achievement in one of the world’s harshest environments. Workers like Nicola Boyd, who manages the helideck, spend two weeks at a time on the installation followed by three weeks’ leave. She has worked offshore for nearly a decade, including a year on Rosebank.

“It’s good fun, it’s interesting, every day can change. It’s a job I love,” Boyd said.

Nevertheless, the working conditions demand steady legs and strong stomachs. Unlike fixed platforms, the Rosebank installation constantly rolls on the North Atlantic swell. Lead mechanical technician Ewan Leonard, an Orkney islander, described the winter weather with characteristic understatement as “a bit of a challenge.”

“Last week we had a 30m heave coming through, so we’ll probably suffer more of that as the winter goes on,” Leonard explained.

Altera CEO Describes Extreme Operating Conditions

Altera CEO Chris Brett, whose Aberdeen-based company chartered the vessel to the field’s owners, emphasized the severity of the operating environment. In the industry, he noted, the environment west of Shetland is considered “as harsh as you get anywhere in the world.” Regardless of one’s views on the oil industry itself, the sheer scale of human achievement in such extreme conditions proves impressive.

Scottish Greens Tout Electoral Success

During the conference, co-leader Ross Greer highlighted the party’s recent electoral achievements. He claimed Scotland had bragging rights to hosting the “most successful Green party in the world,” though he acknowledged they could be overtaken by an election in British Columbia, Canada. The party’s success, he argued, came from focusing on practical concerns that resonate with voters.

“We convinced people that we would save them money, we would make their lives easier and that we would take seriously the biggest crisis of our times – the climate crisis,” Greer said.

As a result, the party doubled its number of seats in parliament and won its first two constituencies in Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh. Additionally, Greer used his platform to announce a new tax on flights to fund a “millennial railcard” that would give people in their 30s and 40s a third off train fares.

Greens Highlight Policy Achievements

Mackay also emphasized her party’s record in Holyrood and local government, declaring that “Voting Green means real change happens.” She took credit for stopping a golf course development at Coul Links in Sutherland and mobilizing communities fighting what she called “energy vampires” of big tech companies seeking to build data centers. Furthermore, she said Green MSPs were working to stop Reform politicians from “running amok” in parliament.

Critical Decision Point for Scottish Energy Policy

The Rosebank decision represents a critical crossroads for energy and climate policy in Scotland and the broader UK. As Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh prepares to make her determination, the controversy encapsulates the tension between economic considerations, energy security concerns, and climate change commitments. The debate continues to intensify as environmental groups, industry representatives, and political parties stake out increasingly divergent positions on the future of North Sea oil and gas extraction.