Connect with us

Published

on

The UK’s largest untapped oil and gas field has been given the green light by the regulator, amid warnings about the climate damage of new fossil fuel projects.

Norwegian state oil giant Equinor expects to pump 325 million barrels of oil from Rosebank, 80 miles west of Shetland, from 2027.

The UK government says more oil will add to energy security, although the majority will likely be exported.

It is the UK’s last major undeveloped oil site, three times the size of the controversial Cambo oil field, which was the subject of huge, high-profile protests in 2021 before being paused last year.

The contentious decision is one part of a broader row over whether the UK should continue to develop new oil and gas fields, with Labour pledging to end North Sea exploration.

Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said although the government is investing in renewable power, “we will need oil and gas as part of that mix on the path to net zero and so it makes sense to use our own supplies”.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called the decision “morally obscene”.

She said energy security and cheaper bills would be better achieved by “upscaling abundant and affordable renewables, and properly insulating the nation – ensuring clean air and water, thriving nature and wildlife, and high-quality skilled and stable jobs in the process.”

Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift, said: “We are teetering on the edge of surpassing 1.5Cof warming – a limit agreed on by world leaders and essential to ensuring a habitable planet.

Yet the government allows companies like Equinor to “blow through” pollution targets “for the sake of profit.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Labour: ‘We don’t support Rosebank’

Rosebank’s “immense size, its location relative to marine protected areas, and the threat it poses to the climate have made it a lightning rod for criticism”, she told Sky News.

Project owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy expect Rosebank to bring £8.1bn in direct investment to the UK economy.

A spokesperson for the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), said its decision had been made “in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project’s lifecycle”.

Read more:
Shift away from fossil fuels by 2050 would save £10trn
Are shoppers being overcharged for fuel? Investigation launched
Sunak: ‘It’s better to not be dependent on foreign dictators’

Does the world need more oil?

The government recently doubled down on its commitment to hand out further oil and gas licenses for the North Sea, insisting they are compatible with climate targets and could provide greener, local sources of fuel.

A Labour government would stop issuing new licences – a radical move that has drawn fury from unions.

The leading global climate science authority the IPCC, and the world’s foremost energy agency, the IEA, say no new oil and gas projects can go ahead if the world is to limit warming to internationally agreed safer limits.

However, the IEA also forecasts global demand for oil to keep growing until at least 2028, and some fear cutting supply before supply falls could push up prices.

The UK’s climate advisers, the CCC, expect the country to need some oil until at least 2050. However, around 80% of oil produced in the UK is exported.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Starmer’s new oil and gas plans

Campaigners estimate that burning through that amount of oil would generate more CO2 emissions than 28 low-income countries produce in a year.

Emissions just from getting the oil out of the ground at Rosebank, before it has even been burned, would be enough to blow the rest of the emissions the UK has budgeted for from oil and gas production, according to analysis by Uplift.

The NSTA says it makes a holistic assessment of the impact of any project and the government argues that local production is greener.

The CCC says the impact on global emissions of new UK oil and gas extraction is “not clear-cut”.

Equinor says the oil will be much greener than the average for the North Sea, at 12kg CO2 a barrel vs approximately 20kg CO2 a barrel, which could fall to 3kg if it successfully electrifies operations later on.

Its spokesperson Ola Morten Aanestad said: “Equinor has a net zero plan that is in line with the Paris Agreement. There’s no scenario that anybody has produced that says in 2050 there would be absolutely no need for oil and gas.”

Watch The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3pm and 7.30pm on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, and on YouTube and Twitter.

The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

Continue Reading

UK

Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

Published

on

By

Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.

The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.

The charges relate to four women.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.

Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.

He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.

The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.

Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.

Read more from Sky News:
Mum spared prison after son’s death
Last UK blast furnaces days from closure
Ship owner files legal claim after North Sea crash

The comedian has previously denied the accusations, and said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.

Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.

“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”

Continue Reading

UK

Last UK blast furnaces days from closure as Chinese owners cut off crucial supplies

Published

on

By

Last UK blast furnaces days from closure as Chinese owners cut off crucial supplies

​​​​​​​The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running. 

Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.

The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.

Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure

The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.

The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.

British Steel proceesing

The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.

More on China

The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.

These steel workers could soon be out of work
Image:
These steel workers could soon be out of work

However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.

Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.

British Steel in action

However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.

They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.

British Steel

The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.

Read more:
Car manufacturers fined £461m for collusion
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow

Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.

“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”

British Steel declined to comment.

Continue Reading

UK

Prince Andrew’s Pitch@Palace branded ‘crude attempt to enrich himself’ as Chinese spy documents set to be released

Published

on

By

Prince Andrew's Pitch@Palace branded 'crude attempt to enrich himself' as Chinese spy documents set to be released

Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.

Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.

In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.

The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image:
The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew

Pic: Pitch@Palace
Image:
Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace

Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.

So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?

In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.

More on Prince Andrew

The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.

Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?

Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.

But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.

Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.

Read more:
Who is Yang Tenbo?
Virginia Giuffre says she has days to live
Emails between Andrew and Epstein revealed

He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…

“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.

Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.

He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.

He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.

“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”

We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.

With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.

Continue Reading

Trending