Green Party leader Zack Polanski has written to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to ask him whether the hundreds of millions of pounds that are flowing from North Sea oil and gas production to the UN blacklisted Delek Group will be covered by his proposed sanctions regime.
Since 2000 the Aberdeen-based Ithaca Energy has already paid over $1bn in dividends from its UK oil and gas interests to the Delek Group of which it is a subsidiary. This amount would soar if the government gives the green light to new drilling projects in which Ithaca Energy has a stake – Rosebank (20%), Cambo (100%) and Tornado (50%). Revenues to Delek Group from Rosebank alone are expected to amount to £235 million.
The government has been on notice since January 2026 that greenlighting these projects would put it in breach of Articles 49 and 53 of the Geneva Conventions.
Zack Polanski said:
“Rosebank is a test of whether Labour’s proposed sanctions regime is fit for purpose.
“Companies blacklisted by the UN for operating in the illegal settlements should not be financed by oil and gas revenues from the North Sea. This should be a red line, and yet the government seems to be getting ready to greenlight Rosebank.
“Not only is Rosebank incompatible with our obligations under international law, but it is also incompatible with a safe and liveable climate. Greenlighting new oil and gas will completely undermine our international credibility when working to get global progress on urgent and rapid emissions reductions. As UN Secretary General António Guterres said earlier this year: ‘Every new fossil fuel project approved today makes tomorrow’s heatwaves more dangerous, and our world less secure.’
“The government needs to make clear where it stands, on the side of international law and climate science, or the side of big fossil fuel companies, wrecking our planet and aiding atrocities in Palestine.”
