Dropping Cambo Oil Field Won’t Help U.K. Carbon Cuts
Climate activists claim victory but Shell’s decision won’t result in lowering demand for fossil fuels.
Mission accomplished but the emissions go on.
Photographer: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFPClimate activists claiming victory after Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s decision to drop development of the Cambo oil field may want to think again. It won’t significantly cut U.K. carbon emissions. Until serious steps are taken to reduce demand for fossil fuels, attempts to stop their production will simply cause shortages and move supply to other parts of the world.
Shell announced Friday that it was pulling out of a project to develop the field that lies beneath 1,100 meters of water some 80 miles northwest of the Shetland Islands. It is estimated by majority owners Siccar Point Energy Ltd. that the fields holds 800 million barrels of oil, of which between 240 million and 280 million barrels can be recovered. That’s enough to meet total U.K. oil demand for almost six months, but a fraction of the 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent pumped from the U.K.’s Brent field between 1976 and 2008.