The Dutch oil company has withdrawn from an exploitation project denounced by environmental NGOs because of its climate impact.
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He throws in the towel. The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced its withdrawal from a project to exploit an oil field off the Shetland Islands in Scotland, in which it held 30%. A decision immediately welcomed by environmental NGOs who denounced a dangerous project for the climate. “After careful consideration” of the Cambo project, Shell said in a press release that it had concluded “that the economic interest in favor of an investment in this project was not strong enough for the moment”.
The Cambo oil field contains the equivalent of more than 800 million barrels of oil, of which 170 million are expected to be extracted in the first phase of the project. It has so far been 70% owned by Siccar Point Energy, backed by US private equity firm Blackstone, and 30% by Shell UK.
The project, which is awaiting the green light from the British government, has become a hobbyhorse for environmental NGOs, which are calling for its abandonment. Greenpeace had organized a demonstration in London in early October which resulted in the arrests of activists. Shell’s decision “should be the fatal blow for Cambo”, welcomed Greenpeace in a statement, judging that the government “is more and more alone to support the oil field”.
“Rejecting the permit is the only option” viable, the NGO added, calling on the UK government to tackle the transition to “the green industries of the future” and deeming that any other decision “would be a disaster for our climate”. If he says he is “disappointed” by Shell’s decision, Siccar Point Energy CEO Jonathan Roger assures that the company “will continue to engage with the UK government and stakeholders on Cambo’s future development”, specifying that it is in discussions with its partners to “examine options”.
The final agreement of the Cop26, organized by the United Kingdom in Glasgow (Scotland), for the first time explicitly blamed fossil fuels as the main cause of global warming, calling for “the end of inefficient subsidies” to these. energies. But London, which aims for carbon neutrality in 2050, intends to continue the exploitation of oil and gas on its territory to be less dependent on imports of hydrocarbons, which still account for 75% of its energy mix.