"Rosebank and Jackdaw: Government to drop legal defence of UK's largest untapped oil and gas fields"

Campaigners argued the project would not help the UK's energy security as the oil will be produced for export by the Norwegian state-owned company Equinor, doing nothing to lower energy bills.

The government will not defend the legal challenges brought against plans to develop the UK's largest untapped oil and gas field and a second North Sea site.

Rosebank, 80 miles west of Shetland, contains around 300 million barrels of oil and is the UK's last major undeveloped oil site.

It is twice the size of the controversial Cambo oil field.

Jackdaw, another untapped gas site, is 150 miles east of Aberdeen.

Legal claims against developing the sites for oil had been brought by environmental campaign groups Greenpeace and Uplift. [...]

Greenpeace's UK climate team leader Mel Evans said: "This is absolutely the right decision from the government.

"These permits should never have been granted without being properly assessed for their impact on the climate, and following the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, conceding these cases is the logical course of action."

Equinor said: "We're currently assessing the implications of today's announcement and will maintain close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to advance the project.

"Rosebank is a vital project for the UK and is bringing benefits in terms of investment, job creation and energy security."

A Shell spokesperson said: "We are carefully considering the implications of today's announcement by the government.

"We believe the Jackdaw field remains an important development for the UK, providing fuel to heat 1.4 million homes and supporting energy security, as other older gas fields reach the end of production."