Cambo in better position to start production, say new owners

The company buying the controversial Cambo oil field says it is "in a better position" to secure the go-ahead for production to begin.

Regulators are still considering the future of the project - west of Shetland - after it received a two-year licence extension.

Ithaca Energy says the debate is now more "mature" than last year.

Cambo became the focus of environmental protests at the UN's COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow last year.

Ithaca CEO Alan Bruce said he believed the project would pass a "climate compatibility checkpoint" which the UK government is planning to introduce, although the test would not cover already-licenced areas like Cambo.

He told BBC Scotland: "It feels like we're in a better position to consider all of the projects a bit more holistically.

"A lot's happened since last year of course and, in my mind, I feel like the debate has matured a little bit in terms of people having maybe a broader understanding of all of the dimensions that are important from an energy security perspective.

"So, I would say now we're having a more rounded debate about all of the projects that exist."

The Cambo field, which Ithaca will acquire with the purchase of its owner Siccar Point, is thought to contain about 170 million barrels of recoverable oil.

It sits in the Corona Ridge area of sea bed near Shetland alongside several other discoveries.

The deal to buy Siccar Point, at a cost of $1.5bn, is expected to be completed next month.

Ithaca Energy says it has not yet had discussions with Cambo's minority stakeholder, Shell, which previously said it would put no further investment into developing the field.

John Underhill, director of the Centre for Energy Transition at the University of Aberdeen, agrees that rising bills mean more people are aware of where our energy comes from.

He added: "That all plays into, perhaps, that Cambo is in a far better place than it was.

"I'm not saying that the lightning rod that Cambo was, and potentially still is, has gone away, not at all.

"Other fields that are progressing now haven't got the same emotion and attention and polarised views attached to them."

But environmentalists are unlikely to allow Cambo to get up and running without a fight.

Greenpeace has said it will take the UK government to court if it gives the go-ahead for production.

Alison Stuart, from Aberdeen Climate Action, feels "disappointed" that the plans now look likely to be revived.

She said: "I thought that the whole buzz around COP26 would mean there was an abeyance but [oil production would be] not necessarily killed off.

"We need to not be licensing for new oil and gas fields, not just putting in place a few meaningless targets."