20 NGOs present united front against offshore license awards and call on UK to stop ‘Big Oil running roughshod’ over its waters

More than two dozen NGOs forming part of the Ocean Alliance Against Offshore Drilling have filed a legal challenge against the licenses awarded in the latest batch of the UK’s 33rd offshore licensing round issued by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).

As disclosed by Oceana UK, one of the alliance members, a case challenging the legality of fossil fuel exploration licenses in UK waters has been filed at the UK’s High Court. According to the alliance, when it previously shared its intention to take the case to court with the previous government, the reply was that the decision would be upheld.

Now that the leadership has changed, alliance members – including Greenpeace UK, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Rewilding Britain, Oceana, and others – have written to Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, urging the new administration to accelerate the UK’s move away from fossil fuels.

This follows the new government’s proclaimed focus on green energy and renewables and the new Secretary of State’s announcement that the Labour government’s mission is to make Britain “a clean energy superpower.”

The NGOs feel that the 31 new oil and gas licenses, issued as part of the UK’s 33rd licensing round in May, are problematic, calling them unlawful for failing to consider the extreme impact of oil spills on marine life. At the same time, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) is convinced that the new licenses will boost energy security and business confidence across all offshore energy sectors.

“Our client is legitimately frustrated that advice from expert bodies set up to conserve the marine environment was effectively ignored; advice which condemns the plans for further licensing due to the damage drilling would cause to marine wildlife and the knock-on climate effects from the greenhouse gases generated when the extracted fossil fuels are used,” noted Leigh Day’s Rowan Smith, who represents Oceana UK.

“We are prepared to argue, on behalf of Oceana UK, that the assessments on protected sites failed to properly acknowledge these issues. However, our client hopes that its letter to the Secretary of State, drawing attention to this case, will ultimately persuade the government to revoke these licences.”

Oceana UK says the previous government’s decision to issue new oil and gas licenses in May 2024 was unlawful because, among other things, it failed to consider the extreme impact of oil spills on marine life. The signatories are now asking that the Secretary of State “brings an end” to the licenses that overlap with several areas designated for wildlife.

Richard Benwell, Chief Executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “New oil and gas licensing in and around Marine Protected Areas poses serious and even irreversible risks to marine wildlife and habitats and is utterly at odds with any common sense understanding of a protected area. It also means directly ignoring warnings from government scientific advisors who have strongly advised against fossil fuel developments in these sensitive sites.

“The government should withdraw licensing areas that overlap with Marine Protected Areas and regulate to end all damaging industrial activities in these critical areas for wildlife, including overfishing and fossil fuel industries.”

The case is based on claims against the former Secretary of State, who the activists say failed to consider the impact of oil and gas industry accidents, including oil spills and discharges, on marine protected areas (MPAs), as well as the effects of the climate crisis on the marine environments expected to be impacted by these licenses.

Noting that advice from independent government experts – stating they could not conclude that the drilling would have no adverse effect on MPAs – was largely unheeded, the organization argues that the assessments were flawed in several other ways. One of these is the assumption that only 50% of licensed drilling would actually take place.

The contentious third tranche of the 33rd offshore licensing rounds saw the official signing of several deals between the NSTA and new license winners in recent months. In mid-August, Orcadian Energy entered into binding agreements for all three licenses it won, and a month before that, Parkmead Group formally got ahold of a license comprising three blocks situated off the coast of Scotland.