Judges urged to halt Vorlich North Sea oilfield

Greenpeace has urged judges to stop an oil field in the North Sea due to "myriad failures".

The environmental group believes permission should not have been granted for the Vorlich field, 150 miles east of Aberdeen.

Ruth Crawford QC said Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had been "deprived" of information about the environmental impact it could have.

The Inner House of the Court of Session is hearing the case.

Greenpeace has gone to Scotland's highest civil court with the aim of overturning Mr Kwarteng's decision giving permission for Vorlich.

Ms Crawford told Scotland's most senior judge, the Lord President, Lord Carloway, that the government had a legal obligation to conduct a proper public consultation on the development.

The advocate for Greenpeace said the consultation that had been held was inadequate. She said it did not meet best practice and the government did not properly publicise the scheme.

She said the government took out two adverts, one in a national newspaper and another with a publication in the Aberdeen area.

She added: "There has been little statutory compliance other than the press notice.

"Greenpeace had been prejudiced by the failures - the prejudice which I identify is the failure to properly publicise, because the appellants were unable to submit representations which the Secretary of State would have been obliged to take into account."

Ms Crawford said this resulted in Mr Kwarteng failing to have data which could have affected his final decision.

She added: "The broad overview at the heart of this appeal is the complaint that there has been a myriad of failures in the public consultation exercise requirements. That has resulted in Greenpeace, the appellant, being deprived of the opportunity, as it is entitled to, to take part in the decision making process.

"As a result of the Secretary of State has been deprived of information which could have been relevant and material to the decision."

Permission to drill the Vorlich site was given to BP in 2018.

Greenpeace wants the court to revoke a permit to drill for 30 million barrels of oil. The court heard that BP failed to publish a statutory notice on its website regarding the development.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has instructed Roddy Dunlop QC to contest the action.

Mr Dunlop said the failure to publish the notice was an error, but that it would be wrong to overturn permission for Vorlich on this basis.

He said: "A blank template went on rather than the notice itself. It is a minor technical issue which didn't give rise to any material prejudice to any party."

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), also contesting the action, has instructed advocate Ross McClelland to act on its behalf.

Greenpeace believes that if it were to win its case at the Court of Session, it would have ramifications for how the UK government makes future oil permit decisions, such as the Cambo field off Shetland.

The hearing continues on Thursday.