North Sea oil industry urges Burnham to approve new drilling in UK waters

North Sea oil rig. Offshore Energies UK letter to MPs was co-signed by more than 10 business groups linked to the oil and gas industry, as well as the GMB trade union. Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy View image in fullscreen North Sea oil rig. Offshore Energies UK letter to MPs was co-signed by more than 10 business groups linked to the oil and gas industry, as well as the GMB trade union. Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy North Sea oil industry urges Burnham to approve new drilling in UK waters Lobby appeals to prospective PM’s reindustrialisation agenda as it pushes for Rosebank and Jackdaw approval The UK’s North Sea oil industry has made a last-ditch attempt to curry favour with the Labour government by appealing to Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation agenda just days before he is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister. Industry lobbyists have written to more than 400 Labour MPs to call on the government’s new leaders to allow more oil and gas drilling in UK waters to support homegrown energy and show “a commitment to UK manufacturing, industrial capability and the skilled workforce that has powered the nation for generations”. The letter from industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) was co-signed by more than 10 business groups linked to the oil and gas industry as well as the GMB trade union. It said that while they support the government’s ambition to build a secure, “lower-carbon” energy system, the transition would be “stronger and fairer” if it were “built on an all-energy approach: one that builds on our industrial strengths rather than overlooks them”. Burnham has vowed to tackle the deindustrialisation of Britain’s economy over recent decades as part of his plan to encourage greater devolution of political power and create “good growth in every postcode”. This includes a promise to “safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability across the country in critical sectors such as steel, defence, energy, food and farming”. However, it is not clear what a Burnham premiership would mean for the government’s approach to the North Sea. Under Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, the fate of two major North Sea projects – Rosebank and Jackdaw – has remained in limbo since Labour came to power with the promise to ban new exploration licences. Rosebank and Jackdaw were granted licences under the previous government, meaning there would be no breach of the Labour government’s manifesto pledge if the government gave final consent for the two projects to proceed. Miliband was widely expected to overrule the Jackdaw gas development and the Rosebank oil project, which he has previously described as “climate vandalism”. But the energy secretary is now reportedly willing to consent to Jackdaw, according to the Observer, to prove he could be a credible successor to Rachel Reeves as Burnham’s chancellor. The Jackdaw project has promised to begin producing gas for British homes as soon as this coming winter if given the g