Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the (a) accuracy of reports that burning all 800 million barrels of oil in the new Cambo oil field would be ten times the annual emissions of Scotland and (b) the implications for the UK’s climate commitments of that matter.

No decision has yet been made regarding the proposed Cambo field, which is expected to produce up to 170 million barrels of oil over 25 years.

The figure of 800 million barrels refers to an estimate of Cambo’s total oil in place, of which only a fraction can be feasibly produced.

Oil and gas production from existing licenses is already factored into our projections of future supply, and even as we move towards net zero, we will remain net importers of oil and gas.