Shell has begun drilling for oil and gas at a North Sea site days after a Scottish court blocked a major project following legal action by green campaigners.
The energy giant announced yesterday that it has restarted production at the Penguins field.
A judge at Edinburgh’s Court of Sessions last week said the previous Tory government’s decision to approve Shell’s Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen was ‘unlawful’.
That was a major setback for Britain’s oil and gas industry and reignited fears that Shell could move its stock market listing from London to New York.
It was a further blow to the sector after Labour banned new licences to drill in the North Sea and hiked taxes.
Shell yesterday warned that Britain relies on imports to meet oil and gas demand as it launched its first UK North Sea facility in more than 20 years.
Discovered in 1974, the field – which is 150 miles north-east of the Shetland Islands – previously produced oil and gas between 2003 and 2021.
Penguins will produce enough gas to heat around 700,000 homes a year, Shell said.
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