John Swinney has refused to say if he does or does not back the development of the Rosebank oil field near Shetland.
The proposal continues to wait for approval despite the recent announcement from the UK Government that the Jackdaw gas field near Aberdeen would be allowed to go ahead.
While the Rosebank decision also rests with the UK Government, the Scottish Government has struggled to say if it backs the development, despite a softening in Swinney’s position compared to his predecessors.
During the campaign ahead of May’s election, Swinney shifted his position on the development, which he said should be compared to the carbon implications of importing oil and gas.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said he supports Rosebank, and asked what Swinney’s view is.
The First Minister said: “The process of consideration of the Rosebank application has got to be applied, but it’s got to to be applied by the quasi-judicial process that the Prime Minister talks about, where the implications of the consenting of that development has got to be compared with the importation of oil and gas.”
Swinney was later pressed by Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay four times to say whether he supports the development, but he referred back to his answer to Marra.
Findlay said it was “torture” attempting to get an answer from the First Minister, adding: “He’s got opinions on Gaza, Israel, Russia, Iran, Europe, but not on the North Sea.”
Pressed again, the First Minister said: “In the interest of explaining to Mr Findlay what I said to Mr Marra, there is a legal responsibility for every application to be considered and the carbon emissions that come out of the development of an individual site have to be assessed… as to whether it is compatible with our journey to net zero.
“That is the legal obligation and that is the test and the assessment the United Kingdom Government has got to go through.”
Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer said the UK Government seemed “intent” on approving Rosebank, and that the First Minister would back it if it passed “some kind of climate compatibility test”.
Greer said: “Is the First Minister genuinely suggesting that a monumental oil field could pass a climate test worth the paper it was written on?”
Swinney replied: “The first thing I want to say is that the Government is committed to its agenda on climate action and on the legally binding targets that we have set, which is why I answered Mr Marra’s questions in the way that I did.
“It is essential that any application that is taken forward for the development of oil and gas resources is able to be done in a fashion that is compatible with the legal obligations that we carry.
“Now, the issues that Mr Greer raises are issues that must be assessed as part of that process and must be done comprehensively, because we live in a context just now – and all our energy plans accept this – that for some time to come, we will still be using oil and gas.
“The question for us is whether we utilise resources in our own waters or we import those from other jurisdictions.
“That is the purpose of the climate compatibility test.”
Speaking to journalists in Holyrood on Thursday, the First Minister again refused to be drawn on whether he explicitly supports Rosebank.
“The UK Government’s got to consider all those issues and come to that conclusion,” he said.
“That’s the point I was making in Parliament, that that’s where they got to on Jackdaw, and I accept and support that conclusion.”
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