About 80 miles northwest of Shetland, in the turbulent waters of the North Atlantic, 122 crew members live and work aboard the Petrojarl Rosebank. The vessel is a floating production, storage, and offloading ship that constantly rolls with the ocean swell and rotates around a central turret to face into harsh weather. Workers spend two weeks at a time on board followed by three weeks of leave, coping with winter conditions that can bring 30-metre swells alongside comforts such as single cabins, a cinema, and hot meals cooked day and night.
The ship is moored above Rosebank, the UK's largest known untapped oil field, which holds an estimated 300 million to 500 million barrels of oil—enough for roughly 25 years of extraction. If the project receives a final green light, oil and gas will be pumped up through the turret from seabed wells below. For experienced offshore workers such as production supervisor Douglas Hogge and technician Ewan Leonard, the development offers reliable, well-paid employment that could carry them all the way to retirement.
However, the ship cannot begin production until the UK government decides whether to grant final approval. Although consent was first approved in 2023, Edinburgh's Court of Session ruled in 2025 that the decision was unlawful because regulators had failed to assess the climate impact of burning the extracted fossil fuels. Campaign groups including Greenpeace and Uplift have fought the project for years, arguing that opening major new fields undermines investment in renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
The final decision now rests with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, who recently approved the smaller Jackdaw gas field. While field owners Adura and Ithaca prepare detailed environmental assessments to satisfy the court's demands, the controversy illustrates a wider challenge across the North Sea, where oil production peaked 25 years ago and ministers must weigh dwindling fossil fuel jobs against legally binding climate goals.