The admission that many more licences may ultimately be unlawful comes on the back of cabinet tensions over the future of two major oil and gas fields – Rosebank and Jackdaw – whose licences were last month found to have been unlawfully granted.
Climate experts including Tessa Khan at Uplift, who brought the successful case against Rosebank, have argued that no scope three emissions are acceptable and that allowing new oil and gas fields would breach the UK’s climate goals.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, who has previously described drilling at Rosebank as “climate vandalism”, is in the midst of a consultation about how new oil and gas projects should account for these emissions.
Thirteen more oil and gas licences could be cancelled as ministers decide new guidance for fossil fuel extraction after a landmark court case, the Guardian has learned.
The result of that consultation may preclude the development of new oil and gas projects in the North Sea, the source said, but would depend how far along they were in their application phase.
