What is happening with the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields?

Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has said Rosebank and Jackdaw would support a peak of more than 3,500 jobs during the construction phase.

It says the fields would support 880 jobs, external throughout during their lifespans, with an average salary of £85,850.

OEUK also says they would provide £1.4bn in tax revenues by 2029, rising to £3.8bn by 2034.

Such figures are particularly attractive in the north-east of Scotland, which is contending with the decline of an industry which has long been its economic lifeblood.

According to research for the UK Parliament, external, about four fifths of the oil and gas from British-controlled parts of the North Sea had been extracted by 2024.

Campaign group Uplift says that trying to prop up the declining industry with the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields would only delay the transition to greener energy production, which it argues, external is needed to protect the environment and support jobs.

“The only way to protect workers, supply chain firms, and communities that are currently dependent on the oil and gas industry from this decline is to invest in renewables and other industries that have a long-term future,” it says.

Opening Rosebank and Jackdaw would deliver big profits for energy firms, and little benefit to taxpayers, Uplift adds.

Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Trying to squeeze the last few drops of expensive oil and gas out of the North Sea while the world is reeling from climate impacts is beyond ridiculous.”