Rosebank oil field's '£2.8billion tax break enough to give 250K Scots a heat pump'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Developers of Rosebank oil field are in line for a massive £2.8BILLION tax break, campaigners have claimed - enough to install a heat pump in every home in the north-east.Norwegian fossil fuel giant Equinor can claim back in relief around 91 per cent of construction costs at Rosebank thanks to a loophole in the UK Windfall Tax, it emerged.It comes as Rishi Sunak’s Tory government last week approved the controversial drilling scheme off Shetland - the country’s biggest untapped oil field.Friends of the Earth Scotland said the move was not only a “terrible decision for the planet” but also a “colossal waste of money for the UK public purse”.Equinor - which raked in an astonishing £62billion in pre-tax profits last year - has pledged to invest around £3.1billion to develop Rosebank.But a deliberate loophole in the Windfall Tax known will allow the firm to claw back £91.40 for every £100 they plough into the project.The eco charity said that amounted to £2.84billion - enough to fit an eco-friendly heat pump and insulate each of the 224,000 homes across the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire council areas.The UK has some of the leakiest housing stock in Europe, meaning we produce higher household emissions and get higher fuel bills.Friends of the Earth Scotland’s just transition campaigner Rosie Hampton blasted: “It defies logic that the UK Government is choosing to hand over billions in tax breaks to an obscenely profitable oil company when people are desperately in need of action to fix our cold leaky homes.“Fossil fuels are driving the cost of living crisis as well as the devastating extreme weather we are increasingly witnessing around the world.“If politicians were genuine about a fair and fast transition away from oil and gas,