The Oil and Gas Authority and Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning are weighing up the proposed oil field, which is owned by Shell and private equity firm Siccar Point Energy. Licensing for exploration at the oil field was initially approved in 2001.
If the Cambo project goes ahead, a further 150-170 million barrels of oil may be extracted from the site, which is expected to be in operation from 2022 until 2050. The Cabinet is now under pressure to intervene, although Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, and other ministers have insisted that the matter is entirely in the hands of regulators. While the government recently introduced a climate compatibility test for new oil and gas developments, the test will not be applied to fields such as Cambo which have already been licensed.
The government has been called on to halt the project by the leader of the opposition, a coalition of 77 organisations and 80,000 signatories of...