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 approving the controversial Rosebank oil field could violate his own sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Ministers are poised to make a long‑awaited decision on whether to proceed with Rosebank, Britain’s largest untapped oil reserve located off the Shetland Islands. Environmental activists and Green Party member Zack Polanski have each written to Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, expressing concern over the project’s ties to the Israeli company Delek Group. Delek Group appeared last year in a United Nations database of firms alleged to provide services or utilities to settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. A Delek spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph that the company no longer has any involvement in Israeli settlements and was mistakenly listed in the UN register. Delek controls Ithaca Energy, which holds a 20 % stake in Rosebank. The campaign group Uplift, whose legal challenge to the Rosebank project in 2023 produced the current hold on an exploration decision, helped coordinate a letter to Burnham and Miliband. In a correspondence seen by BBC News, campaigners from Stop Rosebank and Greenpeace, assisted by Uplift, asked the government to clarify whether Delek would fall foul of the sanctions announced last month. Polanski also wrote separately to Miliband, inquiring what steps the administration would take to ensure that revenue from UK oil and gas production does not support illegal settlements. He stated: “Rosebank is simply a trial of whether Labour's projected sanctions regime is fit for purpose.” He added: “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 signalled a tougher UK stance, announcing action against companies and individuals that supply services such as infrastructure for settlement expansion. The sanctions will also ban imports of goods from illegal settlements. Uplift’s letter to Burnham requested that he “confirm, unequivocally, whether Delek will be caught by the forthcoming planned measures.” It continued: “If it is not, please explain how that is consistent with the government's stated intent to sanction those who engage in or facilitate illegal settlements?” An Ithaca Energy spokesperson told the BBC: “Ithaca Energy is a London Stock Exchange listed company which is a subsidiary of the FTSE 100, and which is governed by the highest standards of corporate governance.” The spokesperson added: “Ithaca is one of the biggest investors in the North Sea and Scotland, is a responsible leader and is a major contributor to both the UK Treasury through tax payments and to the UK's energy security.” A Delek Group representative told the Telegraph: “Delek Group has been wrongly included in the UN database.” The representative said: “Together with our legal advisers, we intend to formally challenge this and seek the immediate removal of our sanction from the UN database.” The question of whether to approve Rosebank, as well as the Jackdaw gas field east of Aberdeen, has become highly politicised. Rosebank was sanctioned by the former Conservative administration in 2023, but that approval was overturned in court after a challenge led by campaigners including Uplift. Authority now rests with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, though the decision will be viewed as a key indicator of Burnham’s broader policy on oil and gas. Miliband was widely regarded as opposed to Rosebank during his tenure as Sir Keir Starmer’s energy secretary. Burnham has repeatedly advocated a “flexible” approach to energy and is believed to favour additional drilling wherever existing North Sea licences apply. The outcome may also affect UK‑US relations. President Trump has pressed successive British prime ministers to increase North Sea drilling. Downing Street said it is relieved that Trump has not criticised the government’s recent West Bank sanctions, although his administration has indicated the United States will not adopt a similar course. Tessa Khan, enforcement manager at Uplift, declared: “not one penny of North Sea oil profits” should go to a company that “itself currently risks being sanctioned by the UK.” The Foreign Office declined to comment. Israel has constructed roughly 160 settlements housing about 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians reside alongside them. Settlements are deemed illegal under international law, and recent months have seen a rise in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers. Israel has criticised the UK sanctions, accusing the government of pursuing “anti-Israel” policies.