Campaigners attack oil company Equinor over Rosebank

Norwegian state oil company Equinor has delivered its yearly profits announcement. And campaigners from Fossil Free London have been quick to respond. They’ve accused Equinor of getting “filthy rich” and say it’s “the UK public [that] foots the bill”.

Equinor and Rosebank

Equinor is the majority owner of the Rosebank oil field. Rosebank lies in UK waters and in 2023, then-PM Rishi Sunak said that developing it would help secure UK oil supplies. However, any oil or gas from the field wouldn’t go directly to UK refineries. The owners would sell it on the global markets, meaning the UK could potentially see none of the product or the profit.

Despite this, as the Canary has previously reported, UK public funds are carrying most of the development costs. So the UK is potentially taking a massive loss and creating enormous greenhouse gas emissions for negligible benefit.

Ahead of Equinor’s announcement, activists from Fossil Free London staged a striking ‘oil spill’ protest outside the company’s London HQ. Wearing rose-themed dresses and dripping in treacle, to mimic oil, they called attention to its role in Rosebank.

Commenting on Equinor’s results, Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London, said:

Equinor are getting filthy rich from filthy fossil fuels, whilst the UK public foots the bill. And it’s never been more of a rip off. As Equinor drives Rosebank forward, they’ve newly buddied up with Shell in a new North Sea venture to dodge £1.3bn in tax.

It’s clear that we cannot afford to neglect climate action. The UK will face over a trillion pounds in costs as the result of the climate crisis in the next decade.

The UK Government must not back Big Oil’s Big Money and support climate denial. They must back people’s survival, and stop this carbon bomb. They must stop Rosebank.

Featured image by Jack Taylor