A climate activist wearing a Rishi Sunak mask poured ‘oil’ on a person dressed as a gannet during a protest at Dundee Harbour on Thursday morning.
Members of Ocean Rebellion staged the stunt after an application to develop Rosebank oil field – the biggest undeveloped oil field in the UK – was submitted to the government.
Located 80 miles off the Shetland coast in the Atlantic, Rosebank could produce up to 500 million barrels of oil.
Protesters claim that if the application from Norwegian oil giant Equinor is approved, the oil field would create more carbon dioxide than the annual emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries combined.
It could also have catastrophic consequences for wildlife.
Standing in front of Dundee’s Valaris 121 oil rig today (June 8), activists held a banner saying “Stop Rosebank”.
One man wore a mask of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and carried a cannister featuring the UK Government logo.
He then poured an oil-like substance over a person dressed as a seagull as another man, wearing a jacket with Equinor’s logo, watched on.
Mandy Cairns from the group said: “Equinor state on their website that their environmental work is guided by their commitments to prevent harm to the environment.
“Yet they intend to develop an oil field which would involve a pipeline cutting through the Faroe-Shetland sponge belt, which is home to sensitive deep sea sponges and 400 year old clams.
“A major oil spill from Rosebank could risk serious impact to at least 16 Marine
Protected Areas.”
Rosebank oil field will ‘devastate’ wildlife
Fellow activist Bridget Cooper added “All aspects of Rosebank will devastate marine wildlife.
“Seafloor pipelines for Rosebank will cut through and damage the delicate Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt.
“In general, locating new oil reserves requires Seismic airgun blasting sometimes for as much as every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day for weeks at a time.
“Noise pollution can travel hundreds of miles through water, often so loudly that it
disorientates, injures or kills whales, dolphins and porpoises.”
Rosebank is almost three times the size of Cambo – the oil field that was successfully stopped in 2021.
Stop Rosebank and Extinction Rebellion Dundee protestors stood at Gourlay Yard in February, demanding the end of oil drilling in the North Sea.
A spokesperson for the UK Government said: “No decision has yet been made regarding the proposed Rosebank field.
“Development proposals for oil fields under existing licences are a matter for the regulators – the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) – following their standard regulatory processes.
“As part of that regulatory process, the environmental impact of proposed offshore oil and gas developments is subject to rigorous regulatory assessment by OPRED, including a full environmental impact assessment and consultation with government nature protection bodies and the public.
“The NSTA is responsible for the final decision of whether or not to approve a field development proposal.”
Equinor have been approached for comment.
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