PM warned Rosebank oil field could breach West Bank sanctions

PM warned Rosebank oil field could breach West Bank sanctions

The prime minister has been cautioned that giving the go-ahead to a disputed oil field could put him in breach of his own sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The government is expected soon to reach a long-delayed ruling on whether to proceed with Rosebank, Britain’s biggest untapped oil field, located off Shetland.

Environmental activists and Green Party leader Zack Polanski have each separately written to Andy Burnham and the foreign secretary to express concerns about Rosebank’s ties to an Israeli company, Delek Group.

Last year, Delek Group was added to a UN database of firms that allegedly supply services or utilities supporting settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

A spokesman for the company told the Daily Telegraph, external that it no longer had any involvement in Israeli settlements and had been wrongly placed in the database.

Delek Group controls Ithaca Energy, which owns a 20% stake in Rosebank.

The campaign group Uplift, whose legal challenge to the Rosebank project in 2023 caused the current delay to a decision on exploration, has helped arrange a letter to Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.

In a letter seen by BBC News, campaigners from Stop Rosebank and Greenpeace, with support from Uplift, have asked the government to clarify whether Delek will fall foul of the sanctions announced last month.

Separately, Polanski has also written to Miliband, asking what steps the government would take to ensure revenue from UK oil and gas production did not fund illegal settlements.

He said: "Rosebank is a test of whether Labour's proposed sanctions regime is fit for purpose.

"Companies blacklisted by the UN for operating in the illegal settlements should not be financed by oil and gas revenues from the North Sea."

Last month, Miliband indicated a tougher UK stance when he announced action against companies and individuals who provide services such as infrastructure to settlement expansion.

The UK sanctions will also prohibit imports of goods from illegal settlements.

In its letter to Burnham, Uplift asked him to "confirm, unequivocally, whether Delek will be caught by the new planned measures".

They added: "If it is not, please explain how that is consistent with the government's stated intent to sanction those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements?"

A spokesperson for Ithaca Energy told the BBC: "Ithaca Energy is a London Stock Exchange listed company which is a member of the FTSE 100, and which is governed by the highest standards of corporate governance.

"Ithaca is one of the biggest investors in the North Sea and Scotland, is a responsible employer and is a major contributor to both the UK Treasury through tax payments and to the UK's energy security."

A spokesman for Delek Group told the Telegraph: "Delek Group has been wrongly included in the UN database.

"Together with our legal advisers, we intend to formally challenge this and request the immediate removal of our name from the UN database."

The issue of whether to approve Rosebank, along with the Jackdaw gas field east of Aberdeen, has become highly politically significant.

Rosebank was approved by the previous Conservative government in 2023, but that decision was successfully challenged in court by campaigners including Uplift.

The decision now rests with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, but it will be viewed as an important sign of Burnham’s broader thinking on oil and gas.

Miliband was widely believed to have opposed Rosebank when he served as Sir Keir Starmer's energy secretary.

Burnham has repeatedly spoken of the need for a "flexible" approach to energy and is thought to support more drilling where licences already exist in the North Sea.

The decision could also affect the relationship between the UK and the US. President Trump has pressured successive UK prime ministers to drill more in the North Sea.

While Downing Street is relieved that Trump has not attacked the government's recent West Bank sanctions, his administration has said the US will not follow the same path.

Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, said "not one penny of North Sea oil profits" should go to a company which "itself now risks being sanctioned by the UK".

The Foreign Office declined to comment.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

Settlements are illegal under international law, and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers has increased in recent months.

Israel has criticised the UK sanctions, accusing the government of "anti-Israel policies".