Extinction Rebellion (XR) Oxford held a protest on Cornmarket Street today against the development of the Rosebank oilfield, a region rich in oil deposits in the North Sea. The protesters were joined by the Oxford Climate Choir, another local activist group.
The protesters held banners saying: “Labour MUST STOP ROSEBANK.” The Oxford Climate Choir, a branch of the national Climate Choir Movement, also sang in a musical protest.
The development of the Rosebank oilfield, located around 80 miles north west of the Shetland Islands, is spearheaded by Equinor, a Norwegian energy giant. Rosebank is one of the largest undeveloped discoveries of oil and gas in UK waters, containing roughly 300 million barrels of oil.
Equinor projects that extracting oil from Rosebank would generate 249 million tonnes of CO2 over 25 years. This is over 50 times more than Equinor’s initial estimation of 4.5 million.
The initial approval of the Rosebank development was overturned in January, after a court ruling that a more detailed assessment of the environmental impact would be required. The public consultation will run until 20th November, after which the Energy Secretary will decide whether the government supports the project.
Speaking to Cherwell, one of the activists said: “We’re here as part of Extinction Rebellion and other climate groups in Oxford protesting against developing the new Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea. It would emit as much CO2 as the 28 poorest countries in the world do in a year. It was initially declined by the UK government about a year ago or so but now the oil giant Equinor…re-applied to get the permit to develop it again and it would basically put all climate goals for the UK out the window.”
The activist added that the development of Rosebank “wouldn’t help make energy and heating in the UK more affordable”. According to the activist, XR is campaigning against the Rosebank development by “asking people to write postcards to their local MPs”.
Rosebank has been at the centre of climate activism in Oxford in recent months. In October, the Oxford Climate Choir also held a protest at Radcliffe Square, urging Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds to oppose the Rosebank project.
 Oxford held a protest on Cornmarket Street today against the development of the Rosebank oilfield, a region rich in oil deposits in the North Sea. The protesters were joined by the Oxford Climate Choir, another local activist group. ){kind=link}